The Last Job You'll Ever Have
by Isabel5
Summary: Chlollie! Chloe gets an interesting offer from Oliver that she just can't pass up. Like he says, it'll be the last job she ever has.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Don't own them or the world they live in sadly.

Pairing: Chloe/Oliver, it'll get there I swear. When I started this story I never intended it to become this long, currently it's 12 chapters and growing so just be patient with me, it sort of took on a life of it's own.

A/N: This story is going to go a little off the show. Gabe, sadly, is dead because frankly it made my work a little easier. Also I have switched up rearranged some events in the timeline of the show, again to make my work easier.

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Chloe grabbed the folder from the runner and set in on the substantial stack already littering her desk as she balanced the phone on her shoulder. "No the pipe burst last week, I'm calling you today because I just got back in town today and saw the six inches of water on the floor of my apartment." She snapped her fingers at a passing intern and handed him a stack of files. "Copy department." She said to him and turned her attention to the phone call. "What do you mean the insurance doesn't cover that? That's what insurance is for." Chloe sighed. "No my renters insurance doesn't cover water damage because I was told that the building insurance did." She dug through her papers for something as an intern walked up and waited to talk to her. "No the pipe didn't burst in the Talon, it burst in the apartment, but it's the same building." She looked at Amanda and raised her eyebrows. 

"The copy machine is broken again and you're the only one who knows how to fix it." Amanda whispered. Chloe held up a finger to tell her to wait.

"I don't understand what difference it makes whether it was the apartment or the coffee shop." Chloe whined. "So you're telling me that I'm solely responsible for replacing the floors and everything else?" She closed her eyes and prayed for strength. "Thank you; you've been so completely un helpful." She slammed the phone down. "Ok, copy machine." Chloe got up and started toward the copy room with Amanda behind her when Grant walked out of his office and screamed at her.

"Sullivan. My office now." Chloe turned around and grabbed the file for her new story and apologized with her eyes to Amanda.

"I've only got like two minutes." She walked into to Grants office and wondered what the hell this was all about. "I've got to get out of here, the waste disposal guys are coming in an hour. But I got another source on the pay offs, we can go ahead with the story." She held the folder out to him. He didn't take it; instead he walked back to his desk and sat down then motioned for her to do the same.

Chloe sat. "Sullivan." He sighed. "Where to start. I ask for something exciting and you bring me a story about garbage."

"It's not about garbage." Chloe defended herself. "It's about the head of the development and planning commission taking bribes to…"

"Cut corners or pad corners I know I get it, boring." Grant said. "I told you when I took this job you were going to have to spice it up. What about that story I threw to you earlier this week?"

"About the mutated cattle?" Chloe looked at him as if he was the stupidest man on the planet.

"Exactly but you ignored me and went after the garbage story." Grant leaned forward. "Look, you knew the paper was losing money. I warned you this could happen, layoffs." He let it hang in the air.

Chloe was silent for a minute. "Wait a minute." She shook her head. "Are you…are you firing me?"

"Not firing, laying off." Grant held up his hands. "There's a difference."

"I don't…" Chloe said confused.

"Look, I just think that maybe this isn't the right career for you Sullivan. Your keen that's for sure but, your instincts just aren't there." He frowned at her then kept on about severance packages and things but Chloe just stood up, walked to the door, dropped the file in the trash can and walked out. She passed Amanda, ignoring her, as she walked to her desk and looked at it.

She grabbed two boxes of paper from supply area, dumped them out on the table and started packing her stuff up. People on the newsroom floor stopped what they were doing and watched her. "Chloe?" Amanda asked as she picked up the papers Chloe had dumped out of the boxes. When Chloe finished packing her things she sat in her chair and reached far under her keyboard drawer. She yanked a large piece of duct tape with one hand and caught the file that fell lose with the other. She stared at the file for a good ten minutes before she got up and walked back into Grant's office.

He was on the phone but when he saw Chloe, the look on her face must have given her away because he hung up in a hurry. "Now Chloe, don't make a scene."

"I know about you and Lois." She smiled at him. "I've known for a while now."

"I didn't think you'd stoop this low." He shook his head. Chloe shook hers too.

"You don't understand." Chloe laughed humorlessly. "I've known about you and Lois for a while. I've also known this for a while." She slapped the file on his desk and he opened it slowly. He frowned as he flipped through the pages and swallowed hard.

"Where did you get this?" He asked.

"I have my sources." She said. "Julian." His head snapped up to look at her angrily.

"So I guess you want your job back." He said. "With a raise no doubt."

She laughed again, amused this time. "I'm not blackmailing you." She smiled. "I could have used this a while ago. I could have sold it to any paper or news company in the world for more than your worth, but I didn't." She slapped her hands on his desk and leaned forward so she was a mere inches from his face. "Maybe I'm not cut throat and ruthless but you're going to admit that I'm a damn good investigative reporter." Grant shook his head in acknowledgement. "And now you're going to admit that you're turning one of the finest papers in the world into nothing more than a grocery line tabloid."

"I'm selling papers." Grant countered.

"You're selling out." Chloe straightened back up. "You're right." She laughed. "I don't belong here; I'm better than this place." She turned and walked to the door.

"Who else knows about this?" Grant asked.

"No one." Chloe assured him. "And if you want it to stay that way, don't mention this to Lex. I'm tired of playing cat and mouse with him."

"How do I know you won't tell anyone? Tell Lionel?" Grant asked.

"Look," Chloe softened a little. "Whatever Lex told you about Lionel, whatever kind of person Lex says he is, he's wrong, or he's lying. Lex is the one you have to worry about here; Lex is always the one you have to worry about." She turned to leave and Grant stood up.

"What did he do to you?" He asked suddenly.

Chloe turned around and smiled sadly. "It's a long story." Grant raised an eyebrow. "Let's just say I would trust Lionel with my life."

"And Lex?" Grant asked.

"I would kill him if I knew I could get away with it." Chloe opened the door before Grant could say anything else and walked out.

She picked up her two boxes and tried to keep them steady while she slung her lap top over her shoulder. Amanda walked up beside her. "You've got a phone call Chloe."

"Amanda, you're not going to make it far in this business if you haven't been able to deduce that I don't work here anymore." Chloe smiled at her and walked out of the building.

She got back to her apartment just in time to open the doors for the waste disposal guys. The water had ruined practically everything she owned and she had to get anything water damaged thrown away so the mold inspectors could check the apartment out. "What goes lady?" A large man looked around the place. Chloe surveyed the room and took in the damages, her mind still half on the fact that she'd just been fired from the only place she'd wanted to work since she was four. "Everything." She said.

"Everything?" Another guy looked around.

"Not everything." She sighed. "All the furniture though. Why don't you start with the couches and I'll grab some boxes to pack up the bookshelves." They nodded and she walked downstairs, grateful that the supply truck for the Talon had come the day before and there were plenty of boxes. She grabbed a handful and walked back up to her apartment. As the guys moved her couch, love seat, rug, and coffee table down the stairs, she boxed up all the books that weren't damaged. The phone rang a few times and she pulled the cord out of the wall then grabbed her cell and turned it off. She really didn't feel like talking to anyone. Then she grabbed any DVD's that were still good and moved the television to the kitchen countertop so they could take the entertainment center. Her dining room set was an old metal table from the talon so the water didn't damage it or the chairs but the barstools were wood so they had to go.

Chloe moved into her bedroom and packed all the clothes from her dresser and cleaned off her desk. The mattresses were still ok but the bed could not be saved. By the time the waste removal guys were done Chloe was sitting at her dining room table and staring at a completely empty apartment. Well not completely empty. There were boxes of books stacked in the corner of the living room. The television was on an egg crate she took from the Talon and her mattress and box spring were on the floor of her bedroom, but that was it, the entire rest of her apartment was bare.

She couldn't stop the laugh the slipped out, and then the one that followed and before she knew it she was laughing so hard she was crying. Soon after that she wasn't even sure if she was crying from the laughter or laughing through the tears. That's how Lois and Clark found her, doubled over at her kitchen table laughing and crying hysterically without even a pause for breath. "Chloe are you ok?" Lois asked cautiously.

"I'm fine." She looked up. "How are you?"

Clark looked around the apartment. "Did you get robbed?" He asked as he set the bags on the counter.

"No." Chloe wiped her eyes. "But I got fired."

"I know sweetie." Lois frowned at her. "We figured you'd need some company and some comfort food." She motioned to the bags on the counter. "But what happened here?"

"Pipe burst." Chloe shrugged and got up to grab plates from the cabinet. "Ruined everything."

"You had to get rid of everything?" Lois asked.

"It was all water damaged." Chloe shrugged as if it was no big deal. Lois looked at Clark and made a face, he shrugged and she glared and he coughed.

"You sure you're all right Chloe?" He asked.

"Fine." She smiled handing him a plate. "Let's eat." She opened the take out containers and piled her plate up. Clark's phone rang and he walked into the other room to answer when he saw it was Oliver.

"Hey." He said quietly.

"Where's Chloe?" Oliver asked curtly.

"In the other room." Clark said confused.

"What the hell's wrong with her?" He practically screamed. "I've been trying to call her all day, her house phone, her cell phone, the office."

"She's had a bad day." Clark said.

"Well I really need to talk to her it's important." Oliver said.

"I'll tell her to answer her phone." Clark assured Oliver and hung up. He walked out and whispered in Chloe's ear while Lois loaded up her plate. "Answer your phone, Oliver's got to talk to you."

Chloe reached in her purse and turned the phone back on; completely forgetting that she'd turned it off earlier. "Oops." She said as a message came up on the screen. "Twenty eight messages."

She was about to check her voice mail when the phone rang. She got up from the table and walked to the bedroom to answer it. "Hello." She said.

"Chloe, I've been trying to reach you all day."

"I'm sorry." She said a little put off by the tone of his voice. "It's been sort of a rough day, am I allowed to have those?"

He was quiet for a second and then sighed. "I'm sorry." She could practically hear him running his hands through his hair. "I haven't been having the best week myself, didn't mean to take it out on you. I need a favor."

"Oh." Chloe said. She instantly felt bad. She hadn't talked to Oliver in six months and if he'd been trying to call her, it was most likely something really important. "Sure, whatever I can do."

"Can you take a few days off work? Take a vacation?" He asked.

"I think I can swing that." Chloe smiled ruefully.

"Right, I need you in Star city as soon as possible. Better take a carousel here, it would be best if Lex didn't know where you really were." Oliver mentioned.

You don't know the half of it. Chloe thought, not realizing until that moment what she'd revealed in Grant's office. "No problem, I can leave tomorrow morning, I'll call you when I get to Star City."

"Thank Chloe, you're a life saver." Oliver said before hanging up.

Chloe walked back into the living room and grabbed her plate to continue eating. "Who was that?" Lois asked.

"My travel agent." She said smiling. "You know I think it's about time I took a vacation."

"That's the spirit." Lois smiled.

"Yeah I mean I haven't had one in…god, I can't even remember the last time I had a vacation." Chloe smiled. "And this really is the perfect time. It's not like I have work, or even an apartment." She looked around.

"So where are you going to go?" Lois asked.

"Somewhere sunny." Chloe said. "The beach maybe."

"Sounds like a plan to me." Lois clapped Chloe on the back. "When will you leave?"

"Tomorrow." Chloe told her. "No time like the present."

"Right." Lois nodded. "Get out before you come to your senses."

"That just about covers it." Chloe agreed. They ate and stayed a little while longer, making sure Chloe really was ok about getting fired and then left when she assured them she'd be fine. As soon as they were gone she packed her bag and got to work on her carousel. Chloe coined the phrase because if anyone were to come looking for her they'd just end up going around in circles. She reserved a flight to Miami for eight in the morning from Metropolis and then from Miami she reserved five other flights, one to New York, one to DC, one to Chicago, one to LA, and one to Dallas. From each of those places she reserved more flights to other places and then bought a couple of train tickets as well. After that was all finished she pulled a couple of fake ID's and decided on who she would really travel as before finally going to sleep.

Two days later Chloe rubbed her hands up and down her arms faster as if it would help. All the talk of beaches and flying into Miami sort of put her in a warm summer mind set but all that was dashed when she walked out of the Star City airport. "He didn't tell me it was cold here." Chloe said as Victor tossed the small bag she'd packed into the trunk.

"Here." He passed his coat to her and she quickly pulled it on, sighing in relief. "I don't really feel the cold." He opened the passenger side door for her and she climbed in.

"Heater, heater, heater." She mumbled as she slowly got in the car, adjusted mirrors and turned it on.

"Chill out." Victor laughed at her as her teeth chattered next to him. "Or you know…" She glared and turned the heater on full blast. "So Ollie said you were having a bad day."

"Bad week, bad month…whatever." She looked out the window. This was her first visit to Star City and she was admiring the view. "So is the whole Justice League here or…" Victor started laughing.

"Justice League?" He asked.

"What?" Chloe said confused. "I think it fits."

"Please don't tell Oliver that, he'll start to use it." Victor groaned. "Like our nicknames weren't bad enough."

"You don't like your nickname?" Chloe smiled. "Don't care much for mine either."

"Well none of us got to pick ours really." Victor shrugged. "Guess it goes with the life."

"So what is this proposition that Oliver flew me out here to discuss?" Chloe asked.

"I don't know." Victor shrugged. "Oliver just tossed me the keys an hour ago and said to come pick you up. We didn't even know you were coming." He smiled. "Impulse is going to freak."

Chloe rolled her eyes and sighed. "Do we have to tell him; couldn't you just sneak me in or something?"

"Oh come on, you know you love all the attention he lavishes on you." Victor teased her.

"It is sort of nice for someone to fawn over you every once in a while." She admitted.

"I knew it." Victor said and Chloe laughed. She leaned her head against the window and the next thing she knew she was asleep. She woke up thirty minutes later when Victor stopped the car. She was exhausted. She'd boarded her first plane at 7:30 the day before and had sense flown to Miami, then to Chicago, taken a train to Madison, rented a car and drove back to Chicago, flew to Denver then finally Star City. It was nine o'clock at night a day after she set off, she was tired, hungry, cold, and a little cranky.

She looked around to get her bearings; they were in a parking garage. "Here we go." Victor opened the door and grabbed her bag from the trunk. "Queen Towers."

"Fancy." Chloe said walking to the glass elevators in the corner. "What floor?" She asked when they both squeezed in. Victor took out a key in put it in the key hole, a pad popped out of the wall when he turned it and he punched in a few numbers. "Fancier." Chloe said smiling.

Victor just laughed at her as they made their way all the way to the top. Chloe had to force herself not to look down and was grateful when the elevator doors opened, until she saw a red blur and realized that Bart had been standing there waiting for them. He'd run into the elevator at such a high speed to hug her that only Victor throwing out a arm at the last second stopped her falling back through the glass elevator.

"Damn it Bart." AC said from the hallway. "You could have dropped her a hundred stories."

"Sorry." Bart said sheepishly. "I was just excited."

"Could I please get out of the elevator?" Chloe asked a little nervously. "I've fallen out a window before and I didn't really like the experience.

A laugh made her look past AC's shoulder and she smiled as Oliver walked in the room. "Let her breath guys." He tilted his head in greeting at her.

"Hey Oliver." Chloe smiled and walked up slowly, unsure what she did with him, did they hug? Did they shake hands? Did they just stare at each other? He answered for her when he gave her a small hug and kiss on the cheek.

"Good to finally see you again." He smiled. "I'd almost forgotten what you looked like."

Chloe smiled. She'd helped him and the guys out a couple of times since they were in Smallville but it was all over the phone or computer, they hadn't actually seen each other since. "You're kidding right?" Bart said tossing an arm over her shoulder. "How could anyone forget what Chloe looks like?"

Chloe rolled her eyes but didn't remove Bart's arm and laughed for the first time in a few days a genuine laugh. "So what, might I ask, am I doing here?"

"We don't have to get down to that so soon." Oliver smiled. "Bart, show her to her room." Oliver said and Victor handed Bart her bag. "Get settled in, then we can order dinner, catch up."

"Sure." Chloe said confused. Oliver was usually all business, up front; get it out of the way. Either he was sincerely being a nice guy, letting her relax after a long day, or he was buttering her up because this proposition was way more involved than she thought. She stopped following Bart and turned around to look at Oliver. He was chatting with AC but must have felt her eyes on his neck because he turned around and smiled at her. He was a nice guy, there was no doubt about that, but she was willing to bet the rest of her journalistic career that all the relaxation was just to butter her up. "This thing you want me to do, it's going to get me arrested isn't it?" She asked her eyes narrowing. "Or possibly shot?"

"Just go rest, take a bath or something; we'll talk about it later." Oliver said smiling.

"Am I going to have to scale a building because I really don't like heights?" Chloe said.

"I've got bubble bath." Oliver prompted her. She narrowed her eyes at him and sighed turning around and following Bart to the bedroom.

"I'm so going to get shot." She said under her breath and Oliver smiled as she mumbled to herself.

The prospect of getting shot, scaling a building or an impending criminal record didn't bother Chloe so much when she dropped herself in the bubble bath she'd run. Letting the past few days just rinse off of her actually did make her feel better and she got out of the bathtub energized and ready, if not willing to scale the building. She pulled out some yoga pants and a sweatshirt and walked to the living room.

Victor and AC were playing a video game and Bart was whining because he was supposed to play winner from the last round. Chloe had to laugh, secret covert missions, blowing up building, rescuing innocent people, put all that aside and they were just boys.

"Sometimes I miss the quiet." Oliver said handing her a cup of coffee. She took a sip and smiled. It was just how she liked it. Chloe raised her eyebrow at him and he lowered his head. "I said sometimes. When they're not here, honestly, I have a hard time getting stuff done." He smiled sheepishly.

"I can see where you'd get used to it. At first I couldn't concentrate in the Planet newsroom, but after a few months, if I tried to get any work done in my apartment, it was useless." She said taking another sip of her coffee.

"You ready for dinner?" Oliver asked.

"You don't have to do all this." Chloe said smiling. "You didn't have to put me up here; I could have gotten a hotel room."

"Nonsense." He shook her off. "My favor, my tab." He whistled and the room went silent. "All right guys, what are we ordering?"

"It's my night to pick." Bart said laughing. "You know what that means." He rubbed his hands together.

"Mexican." Victor and AC said sighing.

"No." Oliver pulled a stack of take out menus from a drawer. "It's Chloe's night to pick." Bart looked at her hopefully but she wasn't really a fan of Mexican food. She gave him a sad little smile and the others almost visibly relaxed.

"Actually." Chloe said. "I've had a serious craving for Chinese." She said and AC and Victor both gave her a thumbs up from the couch. After food was ordered and everyone was stuffed, and Bart had come back from what he called, "an emergency burrito run" because Chinese food just did not replenish his energy fast enough, they settled around the living room as Oliver lowered a screen.

"Diner and a movie." Bart said putting his arms around Chloe and smiling. "Do I know how to romance you or what?"

Chloe laughed and removed his arm as Oliver shot Bart an annoyed look. "Ok." Oliver said in his, "meeting started" voice and a satellite image appeared on the screen. "This is Rosado del Mar." Oliver zoomed in on a small coastal town in Mexico. "Rural city, farmers, fishers, no big business until…" He zoomed out and over and there it was a very modern, very steel and barbed wire building in the middle of dirt huts and streets. Armed guards stood all around the perimeter.

"Lex moved in." Chloe said sitting up and looking at the screen.

"We know he moves a lot of things in, but not a lot of things get taken out." Oliver said.

"I've been watching for a while now and most of his stuff comes in refrigerated trucks." Victor said getting up. "From what we can gather based on satellite images, infrared, and public records the main floor is passing, barely, as a medical research facility."

"With a lot of fire power." Bart whistled counting the guards.

"That's what's got most of the people a little…unconvinced." Bart said. "But the towns also pretty scared of whatever is going on in there, too scared to talk to any of us anyway."

"We know little to nothing." Oliver sighed. "We know it's bad, that's pretty much a given with Lex footing the bill."

"So what do you need me here for?" Chloe asked confused. It didn't seem like they were anywhere need ready to go in, or ready for her to do her Watchtower thing.

Oliver nodded at AC and he walked out of the room only to come back with a file box and drop it on the table and leave again. "We were able to get into the administration building." Oliver said and Bart coughed as AC dropped another file box on the floor. "Ok, Bart was able to get into the administration building and download the hard drive. We've been over everything…" AC dropped another box on the ground. "But we were hoping, with your reporters instincts you'd be able to see connections that we couldn't." AC dropped another box. "Maybe work out a whole picture. Hell half a picture would be fine."

"This is…" Chloe looked down at the boxes as AC dropped a fourth one and sat down.

"Everything from the hard drive." Oliver said. Chloe looked at the boxes and then up at Oliver and smiled.

"Put a pot on boys." She rolled up her sleeves and opened the first box. "It's going to be a long night."

Oliver moved to the kitchen and started a new pot of coffee as Chloe dug into the box, pulling out a large stack of papers and started from the top. Victor, AC, Bart, and Oliver stayed out of her way as much as possible, allowing her to lose herself in the work without interruptions.

Video games were played, a movie was watched, one by one everyone drifted off to sleep as Chloe stacked piles of paper up in her own little organizational system. Around five am Oliver came out into the kitchen and saw Chloe with a cup of coffee pulling stuff out of the fourth and final box. "Did you sleep?" He asked pouring himself a cup and walking over to her.

"Don't touch anything." She said without looking up and he finally looked at the room properly and noticed that practically every available surface was covered with small stacks of papers. She took the page she was reading and walked over to the window setting it down in one many identical looking stacks and then moving back to the box.

"What…" He trailed off.

"I've got a system." She said to him. "Just…go to work or something."

Oliver shook his head and took his coffee to his room. She heard the shower turn on and satisfied that he wasn't invading her space anymore she got back to work. Oliver left for the office, one whole floor down an hour later. He called up around noon and Bart answered. "Dude." Bart said. "This is freaky."

"What is she doing?" Oliver asked. "Did she stop for lunch?"

Bart looked up at Chloe who was standing in front of the monitor eating a sandwich and watching the lab. "Sort of." Bart said. "She's been watching the satellite feed for like three hours now."

"Just watching it?" Oliver asked. "Has she said anything?"

"Nope." Bart said. "She just watches and takes notes."

"Well, let her work I guess, don't bother her." Oliver said hanging up the phone. Bart nodded and watched Chloe watch the feed.

Four hours later Oliver undid his tie as he rode the elevator up to the Penthouse. The elevator stopped and he opened the gate ready to change his clothes and order some diner when a shrill voice stopped him in his tracks. "Don't move." Chloe had screamed.

Oliver grabbed the side of the elevator to keep himself from falling and looked around the room. Every available surface in his apartment was covered, counters, couches, and now, his floor. He stepped back into the elevator so he didn't disturb the stacks of paper in front of him. "Just wait a second." She crossed her arms and glared at him. "I was almost onto something there and then you made me lose it."

"Sorry." Oliver smiled. "I'd really like to come in though so if you could…"

"Shh." Chloe scolded him and looked around the room from her perch on one of his barstools.

"AC, bring me the stack by the window seat." Chloe said and Oliver watched as AC wound very carefully around the stacks and picked one up. "Victor, the one by the fridge." Victor made his way through the kitchen are and came back with a stack of papers. She grabbed both stacks and looked at them for a second.

"Chloe." Oliver said impatiently.

"Walk very carefully, you knock something over, I will kill you." She didn't even bother to look up from the papers.

"Bart." She looked up excited. "I need the stack on top of the television and the one on the top right corner of the coffee table." He nodded and made his way over to them.

Oliver changed and made his ways back to the living room area, making sure not to disturb anything. Chloe was directing Bart, AC, and Victor all around the room bringing together random, well random to Oliver anyway, stacks of paper. "I got it." She said jumping up. "Oh this is brilliant." She zoomed around the room herself now, pairing one stack with another until each one had a partner.

"Ok." Oliver was finally able to walk into the room. "You care to share with the rest of the class?"

"I just…I need to be sure before I…" She turned to Bart. "Bart, can you get back into the administration building?"

"Of course." He smiled at her.

"I need the delivery manifests from today." Chloe looked at him and he didn't move. He turned to Oliver and then back to Chloe.

"Now?" He whined, "But I thought we were going to have dinner."

"I'll order Mexican while you're gone." Chloe said. "Hurry." She snapped her fingers and he rolled his eyes before taking off.

"You've had your Eureka moment and you're going to leave us hanging?" Oliver asked.

"Order dinner. I need to work a few things out still." Chloe walked around her newly formed stacks and stared at them.

"Let's leave her to it." Oliver motioned the other guys to follow him to the kitchen area. By the time Bart got back from the factory the food had arrived and he attacked it with vigor, not waiting to even hear a thank you from Chloe.

She intently studied the manifests as she ate her diner, mumbling incomprehensible things to herself the whole time as Victor, AC, and Oliver watched in amusement. "Ok." She pushed her plate away. "I've got it."

They stared at her expectantly and Oliver laughed. "Are you going to let us have it?"

"Oh right sorry." Chloe stood up and started pacing. "There's another lab."

"Another lab?" Oliver looked at her confused. "Explain."

"Ok, everything you brought back is doubled. I started to notice it as I went through the last few boxes; I was coming across the same invoices, the same reports, only they were different."

"The same but different?" Victor asked.

"Exactly." Chloe smiled. "It didn't really hit me until I remembered watching the delivery." She handed Oliver the sheets Bart had just gotten for her. "Look at the list." Oliver flipped through the four pages of inventory that was delivered to the lab earlier that day.

"Ok." He looked back up at Chloe. "What am I looking at exactly?"

"That a lot of stuff right?" She grabbed the remote and pulled and image up on the screen. "But watch the truck." They all watched as the truck drove in the gates and around the side of the building, ten minutes later it was backing up and leaving. "Ten minutes? To unload all that stuff?"

Oliver looked back down at the list in his hand and then back up at the screen. "So he didn't really deliver anything?"

"No." Chloe smiled. She grabbed another stack of papers and handed them to Oliver. "These are the delivery manifests for the past six months. "Each one has an exact duplicate, same inventory, same delivery date, everything is the same, except for the time stamps."

Oliver looked through them and she was right, each slip had an exact duplicate, exact inventory, exact date but with a two hour delivery time difference. "This isn't the real lab." Oliver looked up astonished.

"No, the real lab is two hours away somewhere. This is a decoy, probably set up just for you." She smiled, proud of herself and Oliver just shook his head in amazement.

"Ok." Oliver got up and walked over to the computer. "We need to figure out where the other truck is going, find that lab and do some recon."

"I'll try and track it using the satellite images." Chloe looked at Victor. "Can I get some help?"

"Love to." He walked over to the computer with her and they got straight to work.

"Bart I need you to fuel up because you're going to be our first look on the ground." Oliver turned to him.

"I'm ready to go." Bart assured him.

Oliver took a deep breath, relieved finally to have this thing figured out. "Good work Watchtower." Chloe spared him a smiled over her shoulder as she and Victor worked away on the computer.

Five hours later Chloe stood up from the computer and cricked her neck. "Got it." She yawned and Oliver walked over to the computer. "I'll let Victor fill you in because I've just realized that I haven't slept in thirty six hours." She nodded at the guys and walked down the hallway to the room Oliver had set up for her.

Chloe woke up the next day and momentarily forgot where she was and what she was doing. "Please." Bart was saying from the kitchen area. "What are you going to do? The place is five miles in land in a very dry area."

"I have skills out of the water." AC argued.

"Like what? Complaining about the lack of water?" Victor joked.

"You guys don't appreciate me." AC said. "One day you'll realize just how valuable I am and you'll be sorry you mocked me."

"We're not mocking AC." Oliver laughed. "We're just…ok we're mocking you."

"You know what you don't even have any powers." AC turned on Oliver. "So you really don't belong in this conversation."

"And the gloves come off." Victor joked.

"Do you guys have to fight so early in the morning?" Chloe yawned as she walked in the room.

"One, of course we do, two, it's eleven in the afternoon." Oliver smiled at her. "Coffee?"

"Do you want to live to see noon?" She raised an eyebrow and he wordless walked to the coffee pot and started it up. "Bart, leave AC alone you don't even know how to swim." AC chuckled as Bart closed his mouth quickly. "And AC you got to stop rising to the bait if you're going to be a little wussy girl about it." Chloe sat down at the table and Victor laughed as AC's face fell. "And you…" She turned on Victor. "Stop butting into other people's conversations just to egg them on." Victor stopped laughing and his face fell.

Oliver walked over and handed Chloe her coffee. "You heard her."

"I don't need you to back me up." Chloe told him and they all turned to Oliver and raised their eyebrows. "You're no better than them, you just pretend to be."

"Right." Oliver tried to save face. "While you were sleeping, we formed a plan."

"Good for you." Chloe grumbled, still not really in a socializing mood. "And I'm sure it's a really great one, does it involve me in any way?"

"It does as a matter of fact." Oliver informed her.

"Then you'd be better off not telling me until after I've showered and woken up." She looked up at him. "If you expect me to actually pay attention."

"Ok then." Oliver chapped his hands together. "I'm going to try and get some work done; you guys just…try not to burn the place down. I'll be back in a few hours."

Chloe refilled her cup as Oliver left the penthouse and carried her coffee into her room, taking her time to wake up and become presentable. She took a long bath, relaxed for a while as her hair dried and then got dressed, ready to face the world. Oliver wasn't back yet when she came out of her room so they guys were still goofing off. "Chloe, come on so we can play teams." Bart beckoned her to the couch where they were playing a video game.

AC and Victor looked at her then Bart then each other and smiled. "She's on your team bro." Victor smiled at Bart who just shrugged.

She looked at the screen, having a vague memory of Jimmy playing this game once and shrugged. She didn't have anything better to do really. "Why not." She sat down and Victor tossed her a controller as Bart explained the objective of the game and how to play it.

"Ready?" He asked.

"If I can break into the DOD website, I can do this." She assured him. "Let's go."

Oliver walked into the Penthouse, not really expecting to be greeted at the door but not expecting to be summarily ignored. All four of them were sitting in front of the television, so completely engrossed in the video game that was on the screen that they didn't even see him. "Around the back." Victor screamed at AC. "Don't stand out front like a dumb ass." He was pushing buttons so rapidly on his controller, Oliver was afraid he was going to break it.

"If someone was laying cover fire, I'd be able to get around to the back." AC glared at Victor and jumped out of his chair. "That's not…"

"Plasma grenade." Chloe said smirking at him. "Suck it."

"We outlawed Plasma grenades after the last game." AC stared at the screen in astonishment.

"Yeah well you guys decided that we were the bad guys and bad guys don't play by the rules so suck it." Chloe jumped up daring AC to say something else.

"Just don't worry about that and come around back." Victor said. "They've got me surrounded."

"Yeah we do." Bart smirked.

"Get in the door, in the door." AC said. "I've got you covered."

"No." Chloe stepped up on the coffee table. "You." She stepped off on the other side getting closer to the television. "Don't." She pushed a button and something on the screen exploded, AC and Victor dropped their controllers groaning. "Don't underestimate me because I'm a girl." Chloe smirked and tossed Victor the controller. He caught it smiling and set it down on the table.

"You guys finished saving the world?" Oliver walked in the room.

"Nah, world went to shit." Chloe turned around. "Cause these guys need to realize, no one can beat me."

"I think they've got it now." Oliver slung and arm over Chloe's shoulder. "So we ready to do some actual work?"

"No problem boss." AC turned the console off.

"Wheel's up in one hour." Oliver checked his watch. "Pack light."

"No problem." Victor nodded at AC and Bart and they left the room to pack.

"So I'll get this whole place to myself?" Chloe looked around.

"No, I need you there." Oliver dropped his arm and poured himself a cup of coffee.

"Why? I used to do sit in my apartment in Smallville and guide you guys in like Spain." She looked up confused.

"When Bart was there this afternoon, he said their reception was really bad, I'm worried about the connection going off line so I want you as close as we can get."

"So I'm going to Mexico?" Chloe said. "I don't have my passport."

"You won't need it." Oliver smirked at her. "Perks of a private plane."

"Huh." Chloe looked at him. "Fine." She set her coffee cup down and went to grab her bag.

Riding in a private jet would have been a better experience if she didn't have AC, Victor, and Bart acting like five year olds on a road trip. "Get off my arm rest." Victor knocked Bart in the shoulder for the fifth time.

"That one's mine." Bart moved his arm more onto the rest. "Yours is on the other side."

Oliver pinched the bridge of his nose for the tenth time and Chloe wondered if he bought stock in Tylenol after taking these guys on. He smiled slightly at Chloe and then went back to his work, which just served to remind her that this wasn't a vacation for him. "How about you fight for it." AC suggested. "Rock paper scissors?"

"He cheats." Bart complained.

"How can I cheat at Rock Paper Scissors?" Victor scoffed at Bart.

"Actually now that he said something." AC looked up. "You do seem to have a serious knack for Rock Paper Scissors."

"There is no way to cheat at Rock Paper Scissors." Victor groaned.

"I hear "Rock Paper Scissors" one more time I'm going to I'm going to come over there and you don't want me to come over there." Chloe called out to them.

"I don't cheat." Victor said. "You can't cheat."

"Do so." Bart added as if he was seven years old.

Oliver pinched the bridge of his nose again and Chloe set her book down. "Guys I will turn this plane around." She screamed and saw Oliver smile slightly out of the corner of her eyes.

"Chloe, I can't sit next to him." Victor called over to her.

"You can't sit next to me?" Bart sighed. "I can't sit next to you."

"I can't sit next to either of you." AC chimed in.

"Oh like we want to sit next to you." Victor said.

"Yeah." Bart added. "You can't take a plane ride without sleeping and you snore."

"I don't snore." AC scoffed.

"Oh you snore." Victor nodded. "You snore louder than a chainsaw."

Oliver sighed and closed his laptop and then his eyes, screwing them up tightly and mumbling under his breath.

"That's it." Chloe tossed her blanket off her lap and stood up. "You here." She grabbed Bart by the shirt collar and dragged him to the seat next to her.

"You snore, everyone knows it, everyone can hear it, all the time." She said to AC.

She turned to Victor. "And you do cheat at Rock Paper Scissors. You have faster reflexes than these guys and when you see what they come out with, you change yours really fast."

Victor opened his mouth to protest when Bart turned around and glared. "I knew it."

"Shut up." Chloe smacked him in the back of his head and he turned back around. "Sit here quietly or I'm locking you in the bathroom for the rest of the flight." Chloe sat back down and grabbed her blanket and book, settling back into her seat. Oliver caught her eye and she looked up and smiled at him.

"Thank You." He mouthed to her and she nodded as if it was no big deal.

"Do you have to put your feet up there?" Victor asked.

"You're not sitting there." AC pointed out. "It's an empty seat."

"But it's right next to me." Victor complained.

Chloe set her book down and leaned over her seat to glare at them. AC put his feet down and Victor looked away ashamed.

The rest of the flight was uneventful and the hotel was a lot nicer than Chloe expected for Mexico. Oliver only got the one room because they wouldn't be staying long and the guys went to change as Chloe set her computer up.

"What did Bart find out?" She plugged all of her components in and looked up at Oliver.

"As genius as his whole double facility was, it made him a little cocky." Oliver smiled and pulled up an image on her screen.

Chloe looked over it and smirked. "There are no guards." Chloe said.

"Nope." Oliver turned to her. "There's security inside but the perimeter is totally clear."

"There's not even a fence." Chloe shook her head. "Man this guys is full of himself."

"Layout's pretty simple. Vic's got it all set up for you on the monitor. We're going to go in, grab what we can off the computer system and figure out what the hell he's doing in there." Oliver poured himself a cup of coffee and Chloe nodded.

"No problem." She sat down in front of the screen and got herself familiar with the layout of the compound. "From the looks of this…" She studied the rooms. "Most of these have refrigeration sections. It most likely is just a research facility…not that that's not a bad thing because I don't think I want to know what their samples are."

"We'll make sure there aren't any live subjects but I'm going to let the samples burn." Oliver informed her.

"Sounds good to me, I haven't come across a place like this in any of the stuff I've gotten from Lex. I'm thinking this is his main storage facility. Which means it'll probably set his work back years." Chloe smiled.

"This keeps getting better and better." Oliver took a sip of coffee. "I'm going to gear up."

Chloe nodded and went back to her screen as the guys walked out in their costumes. "I'm so glad I sit behind the computer." She tried hard not to laugh.

"It's not like we're walking around in tights and capes." Victor said.

Chloe looked at their pants and raised an eyebrow. "Pants, tight I'll give you that but pants none the less." AC smiled at her.

"Ok." Chloe shrugged and went back to her computer. Oliver walked back in and they went through everyone's entrance positions and what they were responsible for. Chloe knew her role, the same as it always was, sit at home and walk them through it. The whole thing went off without a hitch and they were back on the plane to go home within four hours of arriving. Chloe stayed one more day at Oliver's penthouse before starting her carousel trip back to Smallville.

When Chloe finally got home two days later, ready to unwind on the couch after, only to remember she had no couch, she set her bags on the dining room table. She flipped the light on and jumped in the air when she saw a person seated on one of her chairs. "Why didn't you tell me?" Oliver Queen stared at her.

"Tell you what?" Chloe asked putting a hand to her heart. "You scared the crap out of me."

"Sorry." Oliver laughed. "Why didn't you tell me about your job? About the apartment?"

"I wanted to just forget about it for a few days." Chloe said moving to the coffee machine to start a fresh pot. "Besides, it's not like we're bosom buddies." She pointed out.

"Still." Oliver said. "I'd like to think that I'm more than just the guy you occasionally help blow buildings up with."

Chloe took down a coffee cup and held it out to him, he nodded and she took another cup down. "Sorry." Chloe shrugged waiting for the coffee to drip.

"What are you going to do?" He asked her.

"I don't know." Chloe said. "There are other newspapers you know."

"Not for you." He pointed out. She sighed and nodded pouring the coffee into the cups.

"No." She said handing him his coffee. "Not for me. I do live above a coffee shop." She smiled. "I'm sure the owner would give me a job." Oliver raised his eyebrows at her.

"Chloe Sullivan – Barista." Oliver thought for a second. "That just doesn't do it for me."

"What do you suggest?" Chloe laughed.

"Let's see, Chloe Sullivan – Defender of the weak and abused, Avenger of the innocent, Protector of the people." He smiled at her.

"You'd be hard pressed to fit all that on a business card." Chloe pointed out.

"Your right." Oliver set down his coffee cup. "We could just shorten it to Watchtower." He shrugged.

Chloe laughed. "Right, Watchtower full time." She looked up and noticed Oliver wasn't laughing. "Watchtower full time?" Chloe stopped laughing and looked at him. "You can't be serious?" His expression didn't change. "You are serious?" She swallowed. "Look, you're talking about paying me to investigate Lex Luther full time…actually when I say that out loud it doesn't sound too bad but…" She looked at him confused.

"Look." Oliver set his coffee cup down. "It may not be the Daily Planet but it's still investigating. And I think it's probably a little more satisfying to blow up Lex's secret labs then simply write about them and hope he can't spin it his way." Chloe shrugged a little. "What you did this week…I could never have made that connection Chloe. As it is, I'm having a hard enough time finding the time to investigate Lex. I should have found that compound far sooner than I did, I can't keep up with him and run my business. I could use you. I know you're the right person for the job, hell Chloe, you're the only person for the job. Think about it, call me." He nodded at her and walked to the door.

"You're completely serious aren't you?" Chloe asked as he walked out of the apartment.

"Chloe, I didn't take the red eye here to play an elaborate prank on you." Oliver said. "Take your time. Give me a call."

Chloe took a deep breath as Oliver closed the door behind him and sighed. It would be the job of a lifetime. She smiled slightly and took her coffee over to the mattress to think about it. She woke up the next morning and called Lois, promising that she would meet her for lunch and tell her all about the fabulous beach vacation she didn't really take and then called Clark. "Hey, can you meet me for coffee?" Chloe asked and then felt the air around her shift and glared at Clark as she hung up the phone. "I hate it when you do that." She said and walked to the door of her apartment.

Clark smiled as he followed her down to the Talon. They were quiet until they got their coffee and found a seat in the back corner. "So what's up?"

"Well, Oliver sort of offered me a job." Chloe ran her fingers along the rim of her glass, not looking at Clark.

"I didn't know he owned any newspapers." Clark said tasting his coffee.

"He doesn't." Chloe looked up. "This isn't a job job, it's more like I'd be joining a team."

Clark looked at her confused for a minute then his eyes widened. "He wants you to join?" Clark said confused.

"Not just join, he wants to pay me to do what I do as…Watchtower." Chloe said.

What did you tell him?" Clark asked.

"That I'd think about it." Chloe said. "And I've thought about it. I like what he's doing; I like what I do for him. It's challenging and rewarding and I just… don't know."

"You're taking this…job." Clark said. "You may not realize it yet but you've made up your mind all ready so what do you need from me?"

"I need you to tell me it's the right thing to do." Chloe said. "I need you to tell me that I'm not abandoning you."

"Chloe." Clark laughed. "It's not like you're going underground, I'll still be able to talk to you. I'll still call you for help, and you'll still be my best friend you know." He smiled at her. "I really think you should do this."

"Right." Chloe smiled.

"How are you going to tell Lois?" Clark asked suddenly and Chloe's eyes went wide as she dropped her head to the table and moaned.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: A few more things I changed around a bit. Lois and Grant aren't broken up and Lana is still married to Lex, she is obliviously happy married to Lex, she doesn't know Clark's secret. I hate writing Lana so that was the easiest way to keep her out of my way.

"A job?" Lois said following Chloe around the Talon apartment as she packed a bag. "You go on vacation for a week and get a new job?"

"A job offer." Chloe said. "And I haven't decided to take it yet." She turned around to look at Lois. "I'm going up there, I'm going to meet with someone and we're going to discuss my job description and salary and then I'm going to think about it some more."

"But you're leaving now?" Lois said.

"It's sort of time sensitive. They'd really like to know my answer as soon as possible."

"And this job." Lois said sitting down on one of the barstools pouting. "Would mean you would move?"

"Yeah." Chloe said. "I don't want to leave any more than you want me to leave, but hey, you could have the apartment back and we won't be fighting over stories at the Daily Planet…"

"And you won't be here to drown your sorrows in ice cream with me, or gossip about Lana, or any of the other things we do." Lois pointed out.

"Yeah, but I'll have a phone." Chloe assured her. "And you can come visit me and I'll come visit you and…well it's not like we grew up together Lois." Chloe reminded her. "It wasn't until a few years ago that we even started hanging out."

"I know." Lois pouted. "That doesn't mean I have to like this." She got up. "But I'll be a good cousin and I'll help you pack."

"Thanks." Chloe smiled at her. "I'll call you as soon as I get there and I promise I won't take the job without going over everything with you first."

"I could kill Grant you know." Lois said.

"No you couldn't." Chloe smiled. "Because I actually think you like this one."

"I really do." Lois sighed. "That's why I could kill him."

"Let's go grab some ice cream and a few movies and have a slumber party for my last night here, and you can tell me embarrassing things about Grant to cheer me up."

"Sounds like a plan." Lois brightened up and grabbed her jacket as they walked out the door.

* * *

Chloe got off the plane and cricked her neck. She was able to take a direct flight this time because Oliver had work to do in New York and there was no way that Lex would put two and two together in a city with over a million people. She took a cab to the ridiculously expensive hotel that was being footed by Raven International, a satellite company of Queen Industries as far as she could tell, and relaxed for a while in her room. After taking a shower and getting dressed she found a note from Oliver asking her to meet him in the Penthouse, and a card key for the private elevator. When she got out on the top floor Oliver was standing there waiting for her. He grabbed her bag and led her out on the veranda. Someone came out with coffee and then left Oliver and Chloe alone; looking out at the most beautiful view she'd ever seen. "If these are the perks of the job…I think I'm all ready sold." 

"There will be perks." Oliver laughed. "A lot of perks actually. I just wanted to go over what I expect of you before you commit to this. What I would like is a little more involved than you probably had in mind."

"Ok." Chloe set her coffee cup down and gave Oliver her full attention.

"What I want is for you to be my right hand man." He explained to her. "I want you to know every aspect of this organization, every detail. I want you to find the Lex Luther's out there for us, investigate them, and then help me lead the team through whatever needs to be done to take them down."

"Ok." Chloe said. "I can do all that."

"Of that I have no doubt." Oliver said to her. "The thing is, this is going to be a long term project Chloe. Lex isn't going to stop doing what he's doing and more people are going to realize what's going on out there and not all of them are going to be on our side. This is quite frankly the last job you'll ever have."

"Ok, a little more pressure but…" She took a deep breath. "I understand the seriousness of this and I wasn't planning on doing it for a few years then moving on anyway."

"Good, so we're on the same page." Oliver smiled relieved.

"I think so." Chloe said.

"There's just one more thing." He sighed trying to figure out how to explain what he wanted to do next. "The other guys are on my tab obviously but they are scattered all over the place. AC is in Florida, Bart is wherever Bart wants to be and Victors back in Star City. We do a lot together but we're also really careful not to be together a lot do you understand? We don't want anyone getting suspicious and putting two and two together. They can be together and a lot of times they are, they hang out with each other, sometimes they live with each other and that's fine because no one is paying attention to them."

"But they pay attention to you." Chloe said.

"Exactly." Oliver seemed to sound a little relieved. "To do what needs to be done, you and I are going to have to spend a lot of time together."

"No problem." Chloe shrugged.

"Problem." Oliver said again, struggling with his words. "No offense Chloe, but Oliver Queen and Chloe Sullivan don't hang out."

"Oh." Chloe said sitting back in her chair, surprisingly at a loss for words.

"What I mean is, with my social status, the fact that Lex Luther has a vested interest in you and has for a while now, and the way the world works…" He sighed.

"It would look suspicious to the world if suddenly Oliver Queen was hanging out with a girl from Smallville all the time, and to Lex if you were hanging out with me, I understand." Chloe assured him. "So what does that mean?"

"It means that Chloe Sullivan has got to change." Oliver said, he knew this is where the whole thing got a little messy. "It means Chloe Sullivan has to become…the Chloe Sullivan."

Chloe opened her mouth, and then closed it again. "What does that mean?" She asked again.

"It means my dear." A British accented voice said from the door to the veranda. "That you're going to have to change." Chloe turned to see an aged older man standing in the doorway. "From head to toe."

"I'm sorry?" Chloe looked between the man and Oliver confused.

"She's pretty enough, that will work in her favor." He sat down still looking Chloe over. "All though from the way you described her, I've yet to be impressed by her intelligence." He grabbed a piece of her hair. "The clothes are all wrong and the posture…it's giving me chills to say the least. I also detect a bit of an accent that we'll have to get rid of right away. Enunciation dear, live by it."

"You stop talking." Chloe snapped at him. "You explain." She said to Oliver.

"Chloe I'd like you to meet Sir Edward Standish." The man gave a small bow of his head. "He's a very old and dear friend of the family and he's going to be doing me a favor."

"I owe you and I always pay my debts." He said to Oliver.

"Ok, what does that have to do with me and what was he talking about?" Chloe asked quietly.

"I need you to become someone that Oliver Queen would hang out with." Oliver said. "Edward can help you with that."

"How exactly?" Chloe said confused.

"Because my dear." Sir Edward stood up. "I've got more money than God; I can do whatever I want."

"If you agree to this." Oliver said ignoring Edward's outburst. "He's going to take you under his wing, bring you into my society and make sure that you have a place there."

"Ok." Chloe said, still a little confused. "Ok, but isn't that going to look weird?" Chloe said. "One day I'm a reporter for the Daily Prophet the next day I'm…"

"An heiress." Sir Edward informed her.

"We've got everything in place, if you agree. The story that will be told to the press is that you are Sir Edward's last living relative or a sort. We've got birth certificates and fake correspondence and a whole paper trail to follow. The story is that you're his mother's sister's granddaughter and no one knows about you because you wanted to make it the publishing world on your own, without using family connections."

"But I am an old man, and I need someone to pass on my legacy to." Sir Edward smiled. "And for some reason I chose you."

"Only when he actually tells it, it will be more heartfelt and less…disgusted." Oliver said pointedly to Edward.

"Of course." He smiled. "I'm ecstatic to have with me a family after being alone for so many years." This time it sounded a little more convincing.

"Ok." Chloe said leaning back in her seat. "Ok. So…" she looked out over the view. "Ok…"

"Lord, I've got my work cut out for me don't I?" Sir Edward moaned.

"Look." Chloe turned on him. "I am trying to think, trying to wrap my head around this ridiculous plan that I'm sure Oliver came up with in an opium induced moment of insanity, try and figure out if it will work, how it will work, and frankly whether or not I want to spend any more time with you than I absolutely have to, so if you could just please resist the urge to say every asinine, pig headed word that pops into your small decaying brain I would really appreciate it." Chloe said to him.

Sir Edward looked at Oliver stunned and then back at Chloe and smiled. "Well she's got spunk; you can do a lot with spunk." He said. Chloe turned to him and glared and he shut his mouth, sitting back in his seat while she thought about it.

"So literally, what would this whole thing entail?" Chloe said. "If I agree to do it?"

"Well, Sir Edward would take you back to England. I'm sure there would be a few….lessons on how to act and dress and behave." Oliver said not sure how Chloe would take that. "And then he will integrate you into our society. Take you to functions, introduce you to the right people, and bring you to the right places."

"I will make you known." Sir Edward said looking at Chloe. "I will make you my protégé. The heir to my fortune, my company." Chloe glared at him for talking again and he got up and walked back in the penthouse.

"You will start to hang out with the people that I hang out with and then it won't look so strange when you start to hang out with me." Oliver said.

"This is a little elaborate don't you think?" Chloe asked. "I mean this whole charade? Something like that could take years."

"I know it seems ridiculous. But like I said Chloe this is the last job you'll ever have. If we want to do this, we need to do it right." Oliver said. "It will take years; our plan is about five, hopefully not ten." He smiled. "But it'll be worth it. It will give you connections, it will give you excuses. If I need you in Brazil for some reason, it won't seem suspicious, no more carousel trips, no more hiding under fake names."

"Yeah Oliver." Chloe pointed out. "No more hiding under fake names." She looked at him pointedly. "That's how I get most of my information, from my total anonymity. What good am I going to be if everyone knows who I am?"

"Being a socialite isn't like being a celebrity." Oliver said. "For most people anyway. If we do this the right way, you won't be in the tabloids or on the cover of People magazine. It's a very exclusive circle and we really don't like to do things publically. You know about me, you know about Lex because of our past, because of our party days and stupid adolescent stunts. People are going to know your name, but people aren't going to know you. I can't tell you how many people I meet who know Oliver Queen and have no clue that I'm him. Just think about what Lois did the first time we met."

"Ok." Chloe sighed. "I really need to think about this." Chloe said. "This isn't a job offer, this a new life offer. I just need to think about it ok." Chloe stood up. "Take a bath, order some food. Think over what this whole thing will entail."

"Take your time." Oliver stood up and walked her to the door. "But you're going to do it." Oliver said.

"How can you be so sure?" Chloe asked smiling as the elevator opened.

"Come on." Oliver leaned against the elevator door. "All the money in the world, the greatest parties, the best food, just so you get to hang out with me." He smiled at her. "Who could pass that up?"

Chloe rolled her eyes at him and pushed the button for her floor, closing the doors and knocking Oliver out of the elevator.

Chloe walked back to her room, called down for room service and sat on her very own balcony. She didn't have the view the penthouse did but it was still pretty nice. While waiting for her food to come she thought about Oliver's ridiculous plan and the more she thought about it, the less ridiculous it started to become.

She ate her dinner, tried to calm down but couldn't stop going over the plan in her head. She could see his view point. Oliver Queen's did not hang out with Chloe Sullivan's, especially not as far as Lex Luther was concerned. But was the whole elaborate plan necessary? Changing her way of life, changing her history, turning her into something else just so that she could work with Oliver without Lex questioning it?

She thought of her dad. Wondered if he were alive, what he would think of this whole thing. She thought about him, working so hard at Lex's stupid plant even though he hated it. He told her he wanted to give her the world and here Oliver was offering it up on a very enticing platter.

She sighed and opened her phone dialing Oliver's number. "Hello?" He answered on the second ring.

"So this whole…training me to be an heiress thing. How long would that take?" Chloe asked.

"I don't know." Oliver said. "Until Sir Edward thinks you're ready Eliza."

"Ok." Chloe said hanging up the phone. She made some coffee and poured herself a cup. She pulled the phone out again and dialed Oliver.

"Yeah?" He asked.

"I'll still be me though. I mean I'll still be Chloe Sullivan?" She bit her lip.

"Look, we're not asking you to be a different person…well only in the way that we're asking you to completely change, but you'll still be Chloe Sullivan." He assured her. "Just with better connections and clothes and more money."

"Right." Chloe hung up the phone.

Oliver set his phone down shaking his head and went back to his computer. After about five minutes he heard the elevator open and looked up in surprise to see Chloe standing there. "Chloe?" He got up and walked over to her.

"My room's too quiet." She said walking over to his couch and sitting down. "I can't think there." She turned on Oliver's television and he smiled at her.

"You have a TV in your room." He pointed out.

"I know that." Chloe rolled her eyes at him. "But you're here."

"I have work to do." Oliver said.

"You can work." Chloe waved her hand at him as if shooing him away. "Just having someone else in the room helps me think. I'm used to working in a very loud and crowded newspaper office remember."

"Well…" Oliver said and then the service buzzer rang. He looked confused for a second and Chloe smiled.

"That's for me. Room service, I told them to send it up here." Chloe said going to the service elevator and retrieving her cart. Oliver watched as she settled herself back into his couch and opened her room service tray.

"Popcorn and chocolate cake?" He asked.

"It helps me think." Chloe assured him. "Plus, Popcorn and a movie, it's a classic."

"Ok, but chocolate cake?" He looked at her confused.

"What can I say, any excuse for chocolate cake, I take it." Chloe said.

"Wait, what movie?" He asked as if it had just registered with him and looked at the screen where she was going through the finishing steps of ordering a movie. "My Fair Lady?"

"You gave me the idea, Professor Higgins." Chloe rolled her eyes at him.

"I used to watch musicals with my mom all the time." Oliver smiled at the opening credits.

"Sit, enjoy." Chloe said. "There's plenty of room on the couch and I promise I won't hog the popcorn." Oliver looked to his computer then back to the television. "Work will be there in two hours." Chloe reminded him.

"Ok, but just the one." He said sitting down and grabbing some popcorn from her.

Halfway through My Fair Lady they somehow got onto the subject of other old movies and realized they both had an affinity for Carey Grant. After searching through the movies in the hotel supply they found Bringing Up Baby and decided they had to watch that. Four hours after she's come into Oliver's room Chloe was leaning against the elevator waiting for it to open. "Thanks." She said. "I needed this to help me make my decision."

"How is that?" Oliver asked.

"I realized that I can deal with the makeover and the fake life and all that other stuff, there was just one more thing I needed to figure out." Chloe smiled at him.

"What was that?" Oliver asked.

"If I really wanted to go through all that trouble, just to hang out with you." She smiled as the elevator opened and she got in as Oliver just stared at her.

She was at her door and pulling out her room key when her phone rang. "Hello." She said trying to get the door open.

"So is it worth it?" Oliver asked.

"I guess it'll have to be." Chloe feigned annoyance at him and he laughed as she hung up the phone and walked in her room and went to bed.

Chloe stayed in New York for a few more days, ironing out the details of the plan with Oliver and Sir Edward. He would take her back to England, the sooner the better. There he would do his turning into an heiress training and introduce her into society. After they determined she was ready, she'd come back to the states where Chloe Sullivan would officially meet Oliver Queen and the real work could start.

Oliver's plans included her staying on in a remote Watchtower capacity, working from England the same way she helped him from Smallville. It wouldn't be easy but it would be necessary. She wouldn't have any official contact with him for a few years and that was going to be an obstacle but one they were sure they could work around.

"Your flight leaves from Metropolis on Monday." Oliver reminded her as she packed up her things and prepared to check out of the hotel. "Are you sure you're ready for this?"

"We've been over everything a hundred times." Chloe assured him. "If I'm not ready now, I won't ever be ready."

"Ok. Call me when you get to Sir Edwards all right?" Chloe nodded. "You're gonna be fine."

"Of course I am." Chloe scoffed. "This is Chloe Sullivan you're talking to here."

"Right." Oliver smiled at her. "Good luck." He said and she turned to him confused as she left the room.

"With what?" She asked.

"Telling Lois." He smirked and she glared as she punched the elevator button.

* * *

"Wait reverse, back up, and start again." Lois held up her hand in confusion. "A seriously super rich Uncle that you never knew about wants to bring you to England and train you to take over his company." 

"That's some pretty good nut shelling Lois." Clark laughed. Chloe'd just finished telling Lois the official version of her cover story. She'd explained the real part to Clark earlier and all though he was still a little unsure of the need for such an elaborate plan, he was having a lot of fun with Lois.

"Shut up Smallville." Lois turned to Chloe. "This is unreal."

"I know." Chloe raised her eyebrows.

"Wait." Lois smiled excitedly. "An Uncle on your mom's side? Because you know what that means…" Lois let it hang in the air and Chloe sighed.

Oliver's initial plan was to have it be on her mom's side. What with Chloe's grandmother being from Ireland the European connection would be much easier to fake. But Chloe reminded Oliver that since her mother and Lois's mother were sisters and therefore Lois and Lucy would be in the running for heiress he'd changed his mind. "Sorry Lo, it's on dad's side."

"Oh." Her face fell. "Well, it was nice to be rich, even for just a second." Clark laughed again and Lois glared at her. "But England Chlo? What am I going to do with you in England?"

"It's not another planet Lois." Chloe said and Clark stopped smiling. "They have technology there, phones and internet."

"Plus she's rich now, I bet she has private planes." Clark pointed out.

"I'm not rich." Chloe said for the hundredth time it felt like. "But yes, Uncle Edward has a plane."

"But England's dreary and rainy." Lois complained. "I lived there for three years, it sucked."

"Lois." Chloe sighed.

"I'm sorry." Lois closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I think this is awesome Chloe, really. I always knew you were bigger than Smallville, turns out you're bigger than Metropolis." She tried her best to smile. "I'm really happy for you."

"No you're not." Chloe nudged her shoulder and Lois smiled.

"No I'm not." Lois said.

"It's not like you'll be alone." Chloe smiled. "Clark will still be here."

Lois looked over at Clark as if he was something gross she'd just stepped in. "Yeah, yeah." She sighed. "What else you got?"

Clark looked offended and Chloe laughed. She was going to miss this, miss hanging out at the Talon with Clark and Lois, miss watching Clark and Lois verbally spar with one another. She was going to miss it when they finally realized that they were perfect for each other and just get together all ready. The laughter died on her lips and she shook her head. "I'm gonna miss you too, so much you have no idea. But I think this is something I just have to do. You understand that right?"

"Yeah." Lois said giving in. "But you're calling me every day. And you can't just disappear ok, I'll come visit you in crappy England and you've got to come back to Smallville occasionally."

"Done." Chloe smiled. "Hey, you can have the Talon apartment back, get off of the farm." She looked at Lois. "I'm practically moved out all ready."

"It would be nice not to have to worry about this one pretending to accidently walk in on me in the shower."

"I'm not pretending." Clark groaned. "I was just used to having the house to myself for so long." He reminded her.

"Save it Smallville, we all know what you're really doing in there." Lois said and Chloe laughed wondering if she would ever be able to find friends like these in Oliver's circle.

Her remaining days in Smallville were bittersweet and a little annoying. Lois followed her everyone, practically attached to her hip that Chloe had to physically grab her by the shoulders and sit her at the kitchen chair when she wanted to shower. Even then she had no piece as Lois had taken to simply screaming at Chloe through the bathroom door and over the sound of the water. She was almost grateful to finally get on the plan that would take her to the next phase of her life.

Edward, who Chloe had grudgingly admitted wasn't such a bad guy but still completely sure about yet, picked her up at the airport himself and brought her back to the largest house she'd ever seen. After showing her to her room, introducing her to her personal maid, something Chloe was still trying to wrap her head around, and giving her basic layout instruction like the kitchen and sitting room he showed her the intercom system. Forty five minutes later, a very annoyed, very impatient Edward said he would send someone to give her a manual on the system so she could learn how to use it. It wasn't very hard according to Edward but the sheer number of buttons and small screen had even Chloe, computer wizard baffled. Normally she was just fool around until she figured something out but the first few buttons she'd pushed had resulted in her waking up various members of the staff accidently. She decided she'd at least wait until morning before playing with it again. "Hey Edward?" Chloe asked as he left her to get settled in. "Why are you doing this for Oliver?"

He looked at her and smiled. "Why are you?" Chloe just nodded and walked back into her room.

Chloe was given the night to herself after a late supper to explore and just get used to the house on her own and so exploring she went, remember about thirty minutes into her walk she had forgotten to call Oliver. She pulled out her phone and dialed his number.

"Are you settled in yet?" Oliver asked as Chloe walked down the halls of the enormous castle that she would be calling home for the foreseeable future.

"I'm trying to get the lay of the land." Chloe stared at the twenty foot ceilings in the hallway as she made her way down, opening doors to guest suites and sitting rooms. "This place is massive Oliver." She turned a corner and sighed. "I mean it's creepy, it's like a self contained city here. There are two hundred and fifty rooms and I…"

"So a little bigger than you're used to huh?" Oliver laughed.

"A little bigger." Chloe scoffed. She opened a door and gasped. "Oh my god."

"What?" Oliver asked. "Did you find an indoor pool? Bowling alley?"

"No." Chloe said in awe. "Just a hall bathroom." She closed the door and paused. "There's a bowling alley?"

Oliver laughed. "Look, would you go unpack and get settled in?"

"No." Chloe shook her head. "I can't handle that room yet." She told him.

"You can't handle the room?" Oliver asked. "What?"

"My "room" alone contains a sitting room, an office, a bedroom, a bathroom and a closet bigger than my entire apartment in Smallville. The only thing it's missing is a kitchen, which isn't a problem because there is a twenty four hour on call kitchen staff." She shivered at the enormity of it all. "I just can't handle that room yet."

"Chloe." Oliver scolded her.

"Plus." She looked around. "I think I'm lost." She backtracked hoping to find a familiar hallway only to end up in one she hadn't seen before. "Seriously, I think I'm lost."

"Go unpack and call me in the morning." Oliver said.

"Don't hang up." Chloe clutched the phone tight. "I'm not kidding. Send a search party or something. Look, I'm in a hallway with one, two…six doors and I think I'm still on the second floor, but it's hard to tell. Oh there's a portrait of a really funny looking cross eyed man that should help."

"Chloe. Stop goofing around." Oliver laughed.

"I'm not kidding Oliver." She snapped at him. "Call in the national guard, or wait I'm in England what's the equivalent of the National Guard here? The Queen's Guard…well they're probably just on call for the Queen huh."

"I'm hanging up now." Oliver said laughing.

"No." Chloe screamed but it was too late, he'd hung up. She stomped her foot and looked down the hallway that seemed less menacing when she had Oliver on the phone. "Hello." She said softly. "Can anyone help me please?" She called down the hallway.

"Miss Chloe." A voice said from nowhere.

"Holy shit." Chloe jumped up and put a hand to her heart. "This place is haunted, I should have known, stupid England, stupid mansions." She looked around frantically.

"Miss Chloe." The voice said again. "There is an intercom on the wall at the corner; if you push the top button we can hear you."

Chloe looked around sheepishly and located the intercom system. "Hello?" She ventured.

"Yes, this is the security monitoring room." The voice said. "We couldn't help but noticed that you looked a little…"

"Lost?" Chloe asked. "Could you point me in the direction of my room please?"

"Of course." The voice chuckled. "Just go back to the other end of the corridor, take a left, go halfway down and take a right…"

"You lost me at corridor." Chloe informed him.

"Just stay there, we'll send someone to escort you." He said.

"Stay here." Chloe smiled. "Where else would I go?" She paced back and forth in the hallway until she saw a man round the corner toward her.

"Miss Chloe." He bowed slightly; it was Simon, one of the security guards she's met earlier. "If you'll follow me please." He motioned for her to go forward and she started walking.

"Simon right?" He nodded. "Does this happen a lot?" Chloe asked. "People getting lost I mean?"

"No." He shook his head.

Chloe's face got bright red. "Right." She said sheepishly.

"I didn't mean…it's just we don't really have anyone staying here long enough to get lost." He told her.

"Oh, I feel a little better then." Chloe laughed. "So is this what you do at night? Watch people on the monitors?"

Simon blushed this time. "No ma'am. We don't normally have…"

"Anyone to watch." Chloe finished for him.

"Yes ma'am." Simon said. "But Sir Edward asked us to keep an eye on you."

"He knew I'd get lost huh?" Chloe smiled.

"No, rather he was afraid you'd get overwhelmed and make a run for it." He smiled at her.

"Showed him didn't I." Chloe puffed up her chest.

"Yes ma'am." Simon stopped walking. "Your room ma'am."

"Thank you very much." Chloe said opening the door as he walked away. "Simon."

"Yes ma'am?" He stopped and turned to her.

"This place isn't…haunted is it?" She's managed to thoroughly spook herself now thinking about old English castles and ghosts. "It's just you hear about all these old houses that are haunted."

"The house really isn't that old, it's just built to look that way." He said. "And Sir Edward has been the only occupant of the residence since it was finished so I think you're rather safe from ghosts."

"Thanks." Chloe blushed again and turned to go into her room.

"Miss Chloe." Simon said suddenly.

"Yes?" Chloe turned around.

"I got lost a lot my first few weeks here." He told her. "You'll find your way."

"Thank you." Chloe smiled. "Good night."

"Good night." He nodded and walked away as she went into the room and closed the door behind her. She grabbed her bags and decided it would be better to unpack now instead of having to do it in the morning. She unzipped the first suitcase and stopped when she saw a small wrapped package sitting on the top. She opened it up and saw a delicate bracelet with three small charms hanging from it. Chloe examined it closer and noticed one was a quill with an inkwell, another was a small newspaper, and the third was a coffee bean. Of course this being Oliver, there were diamonds sprinkled liberally in the charms and she was sure the metal was either white gold or platinum, but while it was expensive and high end, it still managed to be Chloe. She noticed a note in the bottom of the box and opened it up.

"This is for the new Chloe I hope she likes it. Just in case, there should be something in your office for the old Chloe." Chloe looked up from the note and walked through the sitting room to the office on the other side. There sitting on her desk with a red ribbon tied around it was a state of the art lap top. Another note was sitting on top and she picked it up. "For all your Watchtower needs."

She smiled a small smile running her fingers along the computer and then latched the charm bracelet around her wrist before she finished her unpacking.

The next few days Chloe mainly wandered around the house, trying to get her bearings. She'd managed to meet almost all of the security guards that way. She'd go exploring, get lost and, someone would have to come escort her back to the main hall. She walked into a room at random and five maids stood up in surprise. "Miss Chloe?" Elizabeth, Chloe's personal maid, stood up and bowed slightly to her. "Is there something I can help you with?"

"Huh?" Chloe looked around, realizing she must have wandered into a servant area and smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, I'm just trying to…well I'm making a map." She held up the pad in her hand and the maids looked at the confusing image of interconnected rooms and hallways. "Am I still on the second floor?"

"No ma'am." Elizabeth smiled at her. "You're on the ground floor."

"Oh." Chloe said looking at her map. "How did I miss a staircase?" She flipped pages in her notebook and Elizabeth and the others laughed. "I'm sorry, we haven't been introduced. I'm Chloe…"

"We know Miss." Another woman said.

"I suppose you do." Chloe blushed a little. "And you are?"

"Oh." Elizabeth said surprised. "This is Ingrid, she's in charge of laundry, this is Janice she does the floors, Alexa is in charge of dusting, Sophia is in charge of windows." There was a cough from behind them and they all turned to the door. The maids straightened up even higher if that's possible and Chloe smiled. "And this is Ms. Reynolds; she's in charge of…well us." Elizabeth said, her voice a little nervous.

"I am in charge of all staff." She said walking into the room and staring at Chloe. "And I run this household."

"It's a pleasure to meet you." Chloe said so sincerely that it took Ms. Reynolds by surprise. "I'm surprised I haven't met you before now." She said sheepishly putting the hands away that Ms. Reynolds refused to shake.

"I was debating on whether to meet you at all." Ms. Reynolds looked Chloe up and down and seemed to sneer at her favorite old jeans and sneakers. "I've voiced my opinions to Master Standish on this matter."

"On what matter?" Chloe said confused.

"On you my dear." Ms. Reynolds was now circling around Chloe, like a shark would a wounded seal. "On why after so many years, when no one, not even I, knew you existed, you show up, out of the blue."

"I didn't just show up…" Chloe interrupted but Ms. Reynolds wouldn't be swayed.

"Master Standish is an old man, a weak man, a man who would give anything for family, even choose to look beyond certain faults and obvious flaws in the hopes that someone will carry on his legacy." Ms. Reynolds said. "And then comes you, ready and willing to spend his money, and take over his house…" She looked up at Chloe and sighed. "Why aren't you working?" She asked all the maids behind Chloe and they scattered off to parts unknown as Ms. Reynolds gave Chloe one last withering stare that made goose bumps rise on her arms.

"That woman is…" Chloe shivered. "One scary bitch."

"Where are you trying to go Miss Chloe?" Elizabeth asked politely ignoring the exchange that just happened.

"Um…well actually in a few minutes I have to meet with S…Uncle Edward in the sitting room?" She looked up hopefully.

"I'll take you." Elizabeth assured her.

"No, no, I don't want to interrupt you're break." She waved her hands unsure what was going on in the room.

"It's my job Miss Chloe." Elizabeth pressed.

"No, I can do it." Chloe said staring at her map. "I'm on the first floor." She looked. "So that means, back down the hallway, right at the round window and it's the 2nd door on the left right?"

"Right." Elizabeth smiled at her.

"I'm getting the hang of this." Chloe said waving goodbye as she walked out of the room. She made it to the sitting room without much trouble, only two wrong turns, and saw a table set up for tea. "Edward?" She called out before walking into the room.

"Come in." Edward said from the corner. They had managed to slip into an affable, if not enjoyable relationship since the first abrasive meeting in New York. Chloe decided that Edward was simply a lonely old man to who no had never been uttered and tried to make sure to work it into conversation as much as possible, in a kind way. Edward regarded Chloe as entertaining and even surprising to have around, the fact that she had the nerve to defy him on numerous occasions just made her all the more likeable. She at least had the good sense to know what occasions to defy him. "Tea?" He winced as she plopped down on the settee and flipped through her book. "Please don't plop." He raised his eyebrows and Chloe stood up annoyed and gracefully lowered herself to the seat. "Better." He said bringing her a cup of tea.

"So what's up?" She said scribbling something on the pad that he noticed she carried everywhere with her.

"We have a meeting this afternoon with… what on earth are you doing?" He looked down at the drawing confused.

"I'm making a map." Chloe said. "Louis and Clark I'm not however, I'm still getting lost." She looked up and took the cup of tea from him setting her pad on the couch beside her.

"A map?" He chuckled. "Of this house?"

"No." Chloe rolled her eyes. "Of the forbidden city." She took a sip of tea. "Of course of this house." Edward laughed and shook his head. "What?" Chloe asked confused.

"Well my dear." He leaned forward. "Security already has a map." He informed her. "Of the whole property."

Chloe looked over her shoulder at the man stationed at the front door. "Peter?" She called out to him.

"Yes Miss Chloe?" He turned to her and smiled.

"Do you guys have a map of the house?" She said nonchalantly.

"Yes Miss Chloe." He nodded to her.

"And you didn't think to mention this at anyone of the oh…twenty times you've had to come rescue me when I got lost?" She asked.

"You never asked Miss Chloe." Peter smiled again. Chloe glared at him. "Besides, we have very little to actually do here, it was entertaining."

She made a move to flip him off and Edward grabbed her hand, knowing what she planned and shook his head. "Peter." He said. "Would you please be sure that a map of the house is delivered to Miss Chloe's bedroom immediately?"

"Yes sir." Peter said then turned back to the door, speaking to someone in the security room through his communicator.

"Cheeky little bastard." Chloe grumbled.

Edward laughed at that they continued their tea until there was a knock on the door. "Sir." Jeeves, the butler came in the room, yes they had an actually butler named Jeeves which was a source of much amusement for Chloe and secretly Sir Edward who explained conspiratorially to Chloe on her first day there , "Why do you think I hired him?"

"Yes." Edward said.

"John Louis is here." Jeeves bowed and left the room only to have a tall, lanky, man breeze in followed by three woman who looked as if they were bored out of their minds, or judging from the expressions on their faces, as if possibly they had no minds.

"Yes, yes, John Louis is here." He said with a French accent, sweeping his jacket off and tossing it to one of the girls, who caught it without alteration to her expression. "You will fear no longer. Ah, so this is she." He grabbed Chloe's hands and pulled her out of her seat to stand in front of him. "We will have much work to do, much." He grabbed her chin and slung her head from side to side. "The hair." He shook his head and Chloe saw one of the girls whip out a pad and start writing. "It is to…how do you say abrasive." He smiled at Chloe. "You I think are not abrasive." Edward snorted and Chloe tried to turn to him to glare but John Louis wouldn't let go of her face. "We soften it." The girl nodded and wrote something else on her pad. "They eyes, they are magnificent. The cheekbones we can work with. Katrina." He snapped his fingers and another girl stepped forward. "You will measure."

She whipped out a measuring tape and started pulling Chloe's arms out to her side and spreading her legs apart as she took her measurements.

"I'm sorry, who are you?" Chloe asked.

"Who am I?" John Louis pulled his hand away from her face looking shocked. "Who am I she is asking. I am thinking she is being cute, having a funny laugh, ha ha. Because she must know who am I."

"No." Chloe said. "I must not." She pointed out.

"Tell her." John Louis said putting his face in his hands in despair.

"He is John Louis." The other girl said walking up to Chloe with what Chloe assumed was a confused look on her face.

"Yes this I got when he was introduced." Chloe said shaking her arm and effectively getting Katrina to leave her alone. "But who is he?"

"He is the best." Katrina said.

"The best at what?" Chloe asked, still confused.

"At everything darling." John Louis said smiling and looking at her with almost fondness. "I will make you."

"Make me what?" Chloe asked.

John Louis threw his hands in the air and walked away muttering in French. "I am not a lost cause." Chloe said after him he turned startled. "Yes, I speak French." She said.

"Well, maybe not completely lost." John Louis said grudgingly.

"John Louis will help you pick the right clothes and the right look." Edward said. "He will make you."

"Oh." Chloe said understanding.

"This is what I said." John Louis shook his head. "Never mind. Let us get to work. You will strip."

"I'm sorry?" Chloe said.

"And that's my cue to leave." Edward got up and walked to the door. "Good luck."

"Thanks." John Louis and Chloe said at the same time and Edward shook his head as he walked down the hall.

"Strip." John Louis said again and Chloe looked at him for a minute before undressing. "Clothes." He clapped his hands and the girl with the notepad walked out of the room and came back a minute later with a mobile closet rod, draped with more clothes that Chloe had ever owned in her life.

"I don't think…" She said as the girl left again only to come back with another. "That's a lot of…" She left the room again and Chloe was reminded of AC bringing box after box of papers to her a few months ago and at this moment she would prefer the paper.

"We will start." John Louis picked up the first outfit and handed it to Chloe. She grabbed the clothes in a daze and started dressing.

Four hours and four hundred outfits later Chloe was back in her jeans as John Louis made notes on the clothes that needed to go to her closet, the clothes that needed to be tailored, and the clothes that needed to be ordered based on the style he had picked out for her.

"No no no." John Louis shook his head at the thinly draped fabric that he swore up and down was a dress and Chloe was convinced was a handkerchief. "This is wrong. Look at her, all wrong. This is not Chloe."

"No." Chloe said shaking her head in agreement.

"She is classic, look at the face, she is simple." He looked down at her wrist and Chloe had the urge to hide the bracelet, assuming from the way he'd critiqued everything else he would tell her to get rid of it. "This is her." He grabbed her arm. "The trinket. She will be subtle, she will be classic, she will be what is the word… moyenne." He said.

Chloe searched her brain to translate and looked at him a little confused. "Average?" She said.

"Yes this is it. She will be average, ordinary, common." John Louis said. "Only she will do it spectacularly."

"Spectacularly average?" Chloe said. "That's my style?"

"Oui." He smiled. "This is it. Like the Audrey Hepburn, the Jackie O." John Louis said. "You come from nothing." He pointed out. "And we will not try to trick them, no they will see through that. We will highlight it, we will showcase it. Subdued elegance, minimal jewelry and make up. You will not flash like the other girls who must show off their wealth, you will be above that." He grabbed her face and squeezed her cheekbones. "You will be the most extraordinary ordinary girl."

"Ok." Chloe said staring at him as if he were crazy.

Edward left in the same flurry that he had arrived in promising to see her tomorrow and Chloe collapsed on the settee, covering her eyes with her arm. "Well." Edward said walking in the room and smiling. "I see we've got the drama down."

"That man is insane." Chloe said lifting her arm to look at Edward. "And we aren't done yet."

"Oh?" Edward asked.

"We've got alterations, we've got hair and makeup and he said something about polishing." She shook her head. "I hate him."

"No you don't." Edward said.

"No I don't." Chloe grudgingly sighed.

"You had a little fun?" He asked raising his eyebrows in hope.

Chloe grunted and pulled herself up. "A little." She said. "Trying on some of the clothes was fun, maybe the first hundred."

"With John Louis' help, you will be ready for the garden party."

"Garden party?" Chloe jumped up. "With people?"

"Yes with people." Edward smiled at her.

"I'm not ready for people." Chloe said. "I still have an accent, and my clothes have to be tailored, and I'll say something inappropriate and everyone will know I'm a fraud."

Edward laughed. "My dear." He grabbed her hand. "The party is in three months. I have faith you will be ready by then."

"Ok." Chloe sat back down slowly. "Three months, I can do three months." She said then lifted her head back up. "Three months?" She looked at Edward in horror. "John Louis for three whole months?" Edward laughed again as Chloe fell against the settee and laid her hands over her face again.

"Three months Oliver." Chloe said later that night. "That's all he's giving me to become…me." She was typing away furiously on her keyboard. "I need more than three months. I can't do this; you picked the wrong person for this job."

"It's a garden party." Oliver reminded her. "It's not the Oscars."

"Yeah it's a garden party with an invite list from Fortune 500." Chloe sighed. "Edward throws it every year, it's like his signature party, I don't want to be the one who ruined his signature party." She was hyperventilating; she took a few deep breaths to calm herself down. "Tell me you'll be there."

"I can't." He said. "It's too soon."

"I hate you." She whined.

"You do not." Oliver said.

"I know." She agreed. "Ok, I'm in." She said. "What are we looking for?"

"That took you like five minutes." Oliver said.

"I'm sorry ok, I'm a little upset." Chloe frowned.

"No." Oliver laughed. "Chloe it only took you five minutes to get into the DOD system. Victor's been trying for two days."

"I've been in before." She said. "I made a back door."

"And you think we've got the wrong person for the job?" Oliver asked.

"What am I looking for?" Chloe asked.

"According to Clark, Lex had a very long meeting with our friends at the government and I want to know what it was about."

"Maybe they were planning your surprise party." Chloe said typing away.

"Funny." Oliver said with no humor in his voice.

"Got it." Chloe pulled up a screen. "Project Cassandra keeps coming up but there pretty tight lipped about it." Chloe scoffed. "Almost as if they expect someone to hack into their secure government website and steal information."

"Cassandra?" Oliver asked.

"Well we know how Lex loves his Mythology." Chloe reminded Oliver as she backed out of the DOD website slowly. "Cassandra cursed with visions of the future that no one believed."

"Ok, so he's got someone who can tell the future?" Oliver asked. "Is that possible?"

"Is anything we've seen possible?" Chloe paused for a second, trying to remember something. "Cassandra Carver." She said quietly.

"Who is that?" Oliver asked confused.

"She was this old woman." Chloe said. "Back in Smallville. Clark said she could see into the future after the first meteor shower."

"Did Lex know about her?" Oliver asked.

"Yeah." Chloe said. "The rumor is, when she touched Lex, the vision she got of his future was so horrible that it killed her."

"And now he's experimenting with it on others?" Oliver said. "Keep on top of this will you? The last thing we need is for Lex Luther to have one eye in the future."

"I'm on it." Chloe assured him. "I'll talk to you later ok, I've got to get some sleep."

"It's only ten o'clock there right?" Oliver said.

"Yes but John Louis will be here at seven for my lessons." Chloe said. "The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain. How'd that sound?"

"Still a slight accent." Oliver joked.

"Shut up." Chloe said hanging up the phone.


	3. Chapter 3

After three months of lessons from John Louis Chloe was ready to gouge her eyes out. She felt like an invalid, having to relearn everything she'd ever known. Apparently for the last twenty one years of her life she's been eating wrong, drinking wrong, standing wrong, sitting wrong, talking wrong, not to mention dressing wrong. She was getting pretty tired of being yelled at in French but she thought she was getting the hang of most, if not all of it.

She also had the added pressure of everyone knowing who she was now. Edward had told the story to the press, come out with talks of his long lost grand niece whom he was taking under his wing and molding as the next head of his empire. There was definitely no shortage of people who were going to be at the garden party watching every move that Chloe made. They kept calling it her debut, as if she was being presented to the world, which in a way she was.

Edward was warming up to Chloe more and more, partly because there wasn't anyone else in the house for her to hang out with, besides the staff, which Chloe herself didn't mind but all of them felt it was inappropriate. They met each morning in the sitting room for breakfast, Chloe had her lessons with John Louis and then they met again in the dining room for supper, Chloe telling him what she'd done that day with John Louis and Edward explaining what he'd done that day at work. It was starting to feel nice, familiar, almost like they were a real family.

Oliver managed to keep her calm and focused. She talked to him every night before she went to bed, at first he was just calling to check on her progression, make sure the plan was working, then it was about Justice League work, then it was just to ask about her day. He'd given her more than enough work trying to figure out Project Cassandra, not to mention sending over every piece of evidence they'd ever gathered on Lex and his dealings.

Lois on the other hand was just making her more and more nervous. "So your big debut tomorrow." Lois said on their weekly call before the garden party.

"Lois I'd rather not think about it." Chloe said inputting data from Oliver into her computer, hoping that a pattern would start to form with the more information she gathered.

"That's got to be a lot of pressure." Lois said, eating something on the other end. Chloe's stomach growled. She was starving but every time she sat down to eat for the past couple of days all she could think about was that every person there would see right through her and she'd have to run back to Smallville in shame, failing John Louis, Sir Edward, and Oliver. "I mean everyone is going to be watching you. Everything you do, everything you say, what you wear."

"Lois I'm hanging up now because you're not making me feel better, in fact." Chloe swallowed hard. "I think I'm going to throw up."

"Definitely want to get that out of your system now. Nothing spells scandal like puke on rich people." Lois said.

"Good bye." Chloe jumped up and ran to the bathroom, her empty stomach betraying her and she thanked whatever God would listen that she hadn't had anything to eat in a while. Her phone rang again and she walked out of the bathroom with a glass of water shakily and answered it. "Lois I don't want to hear one more word about puking on rich people."

"I hope that's not your plan." Oliver said and Chloe could practically hear his smile through the phone. "Because I got to say, I'm not sure it's gonna work."

"Oliver." Chloe relaxed, almost instantly upon hearing his voice. "What's going on?"

"I'm just calling to make sure you're ok." He said. "This is a big deal, and I've put a lot of pressure on you."

"I'm fine; well I think I'll be fine." Chloe said. "My stomach's a little wobbly and my head won't stop spinning and I'm so scared I'm going to screw all this up."

"Take a deep breath for me Chloe." Oliver said and waited as Chloe inhaled and exhaled. "Ok, a few more of those. Maybe some positive thoughts, and a glass of warm milk with a little bit of bourbon should help you sleep tonight."

"I'm not worried about sleeping tonight." Chloe said. "I'm worried about tomorrow, saying the wrong thing to the wrong person, or tripping and falling, or puking on all the rich people."

"Ok, we all need to stop talking about puke." Oliver said. "And you need to calm down. You're gonna do great. Edward says you'll be fine and I trust his opinion so you should to."

"He said that?" Chloe asked astonished.

"Of course he did." Oliver laughed. "Why wouldn't he?"

"Well, I was under the impression that he still didn't really…you know, like me that much."

"Who could not like you?"

"Ms. Reynolds." Chloe said annoyed. The woman glared at her every time they were in the same room together and Chloe had made a conscious effort to not ask the woman for anything since they'd first met in the maid's room but it hadn't helped the relationship any.

"Ms. Reynolds is a crazy old bat who thinks she's knows what's best for everyone." Oliver said. "Don't pay any attention to her ok. Get some sleep, don't worry about the party and check your nightstand."

"Check my what?" Chloe said confused.

"Check your nightstand and get some sleep Watchtower that's an order." Oliver said. "I'll call you tomorrow." He hung up and Chloe set her phone down and walked over to her nightstand, nothing seemed out of place. She opened the drawer and lying in the middle was a small wrapped box. She sighed and sat on the bed opening it up. Inside was a small charm, like the others on her bracelet only this one was a small bow and arrow. She smiled, thinking of Oliver and put it on the bracelet. She took a few deep breaths and turned off the light. She'd need all her beauty sleep if she was going to get through the next day.

Chloe fidgeted all through breakfast, couldn't seem to sit still through her last minute lesson with John Louis and managed to annoy Katrina so much that she gave up halfway through doing Chloe's hair. "Give us a minute huh?" Sir Edward said. Everyone left the room and Chloe jumped out of the chair and started pacing. "My dear, sit down." He smiled and poured a cup of tea.

Chloe obeyed and took the cup when he handed it to her. "Drink." He said and Chloe obeyed. After a few sips she felt a little calmer. "Better?"

"Yes." Chloe smiled at him.

"You're going to do great." He said. "Don't listen to John Louis or anyone else. Just be yourself and you'll do fine." He assured her. "And I think maybe this will go with your dress." He pulled a large box out and Chloe looked at it confused. He motioned for her to take it and she opened it slowly, gasping as she saw the full necklace. One long strand of diamonds that wrapped all the way around her neck with a small chain that hung down, upon which were three diamond daisies.

"It's too much." Chloe argued.

"I got the simplest necklace I could find; I know you do not like flashy jewelry." He took it out of the box and put it around her neck before she could argue. "This is a garden party." He smiled. "You must have flowers."

Chloe turned around and touched the delicate necklace carefully, smiling at Edward. "Thank you." She said.

His brow furrowed and he reached forward to grab her wrist. "Is that a new charm?"

"Oliver gave it to me." She said sheepishly. "For good luck."

He smiled and nodded. "Go get dressed, finish your hair, and meet me out back." He leaned forward, surprising Chloe even more than the necklace, with a kiss on the cheek. "You'll be so beautiful; people won't care if you say the wrong thing."

"You know what would make me feel better?" Chloe asked. "To know why you're doing this for Oliver." Ever the reporter, that question, or a variation there of, had been asked practically on a daily basis since her first night there. Ever the diplomat, Edward always answered with "Why are you" or a variation there of. But Chloe knew you can't know the answer to the question you don't ask.

Edward studied her for a moment and then shook his head, as if to say that today was not the day. "I'll tell you my secret when you tell me yours."

She laughed and nodded before going up to finish dressing.

* * *

Two hours into the party even Ms. Reynolds had to give Chloe points. She hadn't said the wrong thing, done the wrong thing, in fact, from what the servants could gather and report back to her discretely she was managing to charm almost everyone at the party. Granted she was pretty secure in her abilities to charm Edwards's peers but the people that mattered, the people that were going to make this whole elaborate plan of Oliver's sink or swim were another story. Taking into consideration her four year high school career as outsider extraordinaire, she was having more than her fair share of doubts on how she was going to push her way into the inner circle of the fabulously rich twenty something's that determined the success of this whole charade. She'd never been good with people her own age, sheer luck and possibly fate, had brought a friend like Clark into her life and she wasn't sure if fate was really too worried with Chloe impressing a bunch of trust fund snobs. "Would you please go mingle?" Edward said once it was just he and Chloe again.

"I'm mingling." Chloe countered.

"Go mingle with people your own age." He nodded at a cluster of young adults on the other side of the pool. Chloe groaned and Edward glared at her.

"All right I'm going." Chloe sighed and walked purposefully towards a group of people that she would not only have vehemently avoided in high school, but probably crucified daily in her paper. They didn't like they would be a fun group to hang out with. The stern looks on their faces, they were at a party for goodness sakes couldn't they smile, told Chloe they probably didn't want to be there. Their choice of clothing, tight designer jeans, high heeled boots, and almost identical halter tops, seemed more conducive to clubbing than a garden party which told Chloe that they dressed to impress others and not for the occasion. Their hair and make-up was also far too over done for the occasion and instantly Chloe pegged them for the flashy girls who felt they had to show off their wealth that John Louis had told Chloe about. Chloe prepared herself for the least stimulating conversation she'd probably ever experience when she was grabbed by the elbow and smoothly pulled in the opposite direction.

"You don't want to go over there." A voice said.

"No one wants to go over there." Another voice said.

"Not even the people that are over there want to be over there." A third one chimed in.

Chloe looked around and realized that she'd become surrounded by three smiling blonde girls, two who looked so identical they had to be siblings, possibly twins, all in flowery summer dresses. They stood apart from most of the people their age in the fact that they, like Chloe, dressed for the occasion in light airy dresses and not heavy designer fancies. Another thing that made them different was their manor, the way they held themselves, loose and carefree, the way one would expect people Chloe's age to be acting on a beautiful spring day at a wonderful garden party. Their hair was loose, or haphazardly pulled into pony tails, one girl was barefoot, holding her sandals in one hand and a drink in the other. And then there was the fact that they were smiling genuinely at Chloe that instantly put her guard down. "Why don't I want to go over there?" She asked as two of the girls wove their arms through hers and carried her to another part of the garden.

"You don't want to start hanging out with the wrong people." The first girl said. "I'm Abby, Abigail Phillips." Chloe shook her hand. "And this is Rose and Lily Martin."

The two girls on either side of Chloe smiled at her and continued to take her somewhere, where she didn't know. She recognized the names. Martin, steel magnet, almost as rich as Edward and Abby could only have been Princess Abigail, fifteenth or sixteenth in line for the throne. "Chloe, Sullivan." She said.

"We know." Rose and Lily said in almost perfect unison. Chloe decided they were definitely twins.

"Of course you do." Chloe sighed. "What exactly makes them the wrong people?" She asked.

"They're boring." Rose said as if it was obvious from just looking at them.

"They're fake." Lily added as an afterthought.

"They're annoying." Abby said. "We've got a list somewhere, we'll show you sometime." Chloe laughed, a little relieved that their reasons weren't snobbish, like they didn't have enough money or their parents weren't from old money. "Besides we've been dying to meet you for like a month now."

"Seriously." Lily nodded. "A whole month."

"Wow." Chloe smiled. "A whole month?"

Rose slapped Lily on the shoulder and they pulled Chloe off the path of stepping stones they'd been on and down towards the lake. "We just knew you would be cool." Rose said.

"Cool?" Chloe looked between them confused. These girls who had more money combined than God, one of them an honest to God princess and they thought Chloe would be cool. "Me?"

"You didn't grow up in this, you aren't like the others." Abby explained.

"How do you know?" Chloe asked. "You've known me for two minutes?"

"Well you're dressed sensibly for the occasion." Abby pointed out. Chloe looked down at her own sundress and flip flops and realized they'd made the same assessment of her that she'd made of them.

"You talked to Albert for more than five minutes." Rose pointed out. Chloe looked over her shoulder for Albert, one of Edwards's oldest friends, as he'd been introduced to Chloe. She was happy to finally meet him after Edward had told her so much about him and Chloe was surprised to find him down to earth, genial, and entertaining.

"He was interesting."

"We know." Rose smiled. "We love Albert. He has the greatest stories. It's just, those people…" She waved in the direction of the group Chloe was going to go talk to. "Think he's beneath them, they won't give him the time of day."

"Plus, Aunt Rachael said you were cool." Lily told Chloe. "She was our advance guard."

"Rachael?" Chloe said remembering the sweet middle aged woman who'd introduced herself and spent the better part of an hour talking with Chloe about everything from politics to music to favorite chocolate flavor.

"We sent her over to get a feel for you." Abby said. "Rachael is an excellent judge of character."

"Ok." Chloe still felt a little confused but she decided to go with it. They wanted to check her out, they decided that she was cool, and for now Chloe was just going to roll with it. "Where are we going?"

"You haven't spent much time exploring here have you?" Rose said.

"No." Chloe admitted. "I'm still trying not to get lost on the way down to breakfast." Abby smiled at her and they led her past the lake on to a well worn footpath that ducked into the trees of the nearby forest. Chloe started to get a little hesitant and slowed some.

"Trust us." Lily said chuckling as she dragged Chloe deeper into the trees.

"I really don't think…" Chloe trailed off her protest when they stopped and she looked around in amazement. "Where…what…"

"Pretty cool huh?" Abby asked as Chloe stepped forward and looked around. They'd taken her to a small clearing in the woods, only about twenty feet wide. Sunlight drifted through the overhang from the trees above that formed a sort of canopy and it sparkled on everything. There was a small bench, strategically placed to get the best light but that was the only intrusion in this completely natural spot. There were flowers growing wild along the perimeter in so many colors that anywhere else it would have looked strange but here it was just natural. The trees that surrounded them were full of birds that were singing and the sounds of other animals going about their daily business that the controlled garden at the house seemed to be missing. A stream cut straight down the middle of the clearing, heading for the lake, narrow enough to simply step over and shallow enough that you'd barely get your ankles wet if you stood in it, which is what Abby was doing at the moment.

"This is amazing." Chloe said. "How did you find this place?"

"Rachael showed it to us a long time ago." Lily said sitting on the ground, completely unconcerned about getting her dress dirty as she too dipped her feet in the stream. "She says that Edward used to have picnics out here with Jillian every Sunday when the weather was good."

Chloe sat down on the ground as Rose took the bench. She'd heard stories about Jillian, Edward's one and only true love. They'd been married when they were both young and Edward was still building his company. Jillian was the one who found the property and designed the house but she'd only lived to see two years in it before she died of a heart problem they hadn't even known she'd had. Edward never married again, rarely even dated according to Elizabeth, always insisting that Jillian was the only woman for him. Knowing this was Edward and Jillian's spot made Chloe feel a little uncomfortable to be there but she knew that Edward wouldn't mind.

Rose, Lily and Abby entertained Chloe with stories of Edward from the old days, they barely remembered Jillian being two when she died but their families had known Edward forever. They had been coming to the annual garden party every year since they were born and generally ended up in the clearing. Which was apparently well known to the staff at the house because a few hours after they'd ventured in there Sylvia, one of the cooks showed up with a platter of food and drinks, set it on the ground of the clearing and walked back to the house without saying a word. It wasn't until it started to get chilly that Chloe noticed the sun was going down and they realized they'd probably better get back to the party which would move inside for the evening, for those close family and friends who'd stay for dinner.

"We're inviting ourselves to stay the night." Rose announced.

"Yes." Lily said drying her feet on the grass as they walked back up to the house. "We're rude like that." She smiled at Chloe.

"That's fine." Chloe giggled, thinking of the four of them, grown woman planning a slumber party. "It's not like we don't have the room."

"We'll skip the formal diner thing and hang out in your room." Abby said. "And you can tell us all about working and going to public school."

"It'll be a rip roaring good time." Chloe joked and they laughed with her. After explaining to Edward that she was skipping the formal diner, getting Elizabeth to order them something from the kitchen Lily, Rose, and Abby followed Chloe to her room and made themselves at home almost immediately.

Lily went straight for Chloe's closet and started going through her things while Abby was more interested in the pictures on her desk. "Are these your friends from back home?" Abby held up a picture with Chloe, Clark and Lois, and Lana.

"Yeah." Chloe smiled. "I've known them since my freshmen year of High school." Chloe said. "And that is my cousin." She pointed to Lois.

"That's Lana Luther." Rose said looking over Abby's shoulder.

"I suppose it is." Chloe sighed. "I can't get used to calling her that."

"So you knew her before she became a Luther?" Rose asked. "Was she any…" She looked at Lily for help. "Better?"

Chloe laughed. "Lana can be…you know she's like…it's hard to explain. I have to say I liked her twenty times better before she became a Luther."

"Were we at that wedding?" Lily asked Rose as she tried on clothes in Chloe's closet.

"No we went to the first two but we didn't bother with this one." Rose said. "No offense." She turned to Chloe. "We just figured that there would probably be another Luther wedding."

"Knowing Lex, you're probably right." Chloe said.

"That's right." Abby put the picture down. "You know Lex Luther too."

"We have an on again off again friendship." Chloe said being completely truthful. Abby raised her eyebrows and smiled. "Sometimes I can stand him, and other times I hate him."

"Lex get's under people's skin because he can." Lily waved Chloe's explanation off. "Abby hasn't met him yet. She doesn't understand how we can be so blasé about Lex Luther."

"He just seems so interesting." Abby shrugged.

"I used to think that way." Chloe frowned for a second. "But the shine wears off when it matters most." She shrugged wanting to change the topic to a happier subject.

"You have the best clothes." Lily said. "Now I want to completely re-do my wardrobe." She finally came out of the closet and plopped down on the couch and Chloe wanted nothing more than to jump up and scream at Edward that rich people plopped too.

"Well I have to be honest; I didn't pick a single thing in that closet out." Chloe said.

"John Louis." Rose and Lily said together.

"How did you know?" Chloe wondered.

"We figured he'd probably be brought in to school you." Rose smiled and Chloe frowned. "It's nothing to be embarrassed about. Stephanie Rawlings, one of the girls in that group we saved you from. She was born into this and her parents hired John Louis to try and save her from herself but she just couldn't learn and he ended up quitting very publically."

"John Louis is good people." Lily said and Chloe smiled, realizing that was one of Lily's favorite things to say. Either someone was good people or they weren't and Lily was the one who announced it. Chloe had been given a rundown of the good ones earlier, who was ok, who to avoid. They told her who was most likely to hang out with her just because of the money or just to be able to say they know her.

"I like what he picked for me." Chloe said motioning to her dress. "I mean the style is very me I just wish I'd been able to pick some things out on my own. That way I won't always feel like my mother dressed me."

"Then we'll go shopping." Rose said lounging on the couch in the sitting room, waiting for the food to come. "Tomorrow."

"Oh yeah, I totally need all news clothes now." Lily smiled.

"Shopping?" Chloe laughed. "I won't need any more clothes for a while."

"Chloe, Chloe, Chloe." Abby smiled. "You don't shop because you need to, you shop because you can." She shook her head. "There are so many things we have to teach you grasshopper."

"Oh and we'll have to take her to lunch at Mirabelle and oh…then the Mandarin." Lily smiled.

Chloe smiled and was about to sit down when she heard her phone ring. "Hold on." She said grabbing it off the side table and walking out into the hallway. "Hello." She answered on the third ring.

"So did you play nice with all the other kids?" Oliver asked.

"I did." Chloe said. "You would have been so proud of me." She looked in the door and saw Rose and Lily fighting over the remote. "In fact I've still got a few people over. We're having a slumber party."

"Oh." Oliver laughed. "Sounds exciting, tell me all about them."

"You tell me all about them, they're your crowd." Chloe reminded him. "Rose and Lily Martin." Chloe said trying to keep her voice down.

"They're nice." Oliver said. "Real down to earth, but they have a lot of fun too."

"And Abigail Phillips." Chloe added.

"Making friends with Royalty on your first time out." Oliver joked. "My little girls growing up so fast."

"Bite me." Chloe groaned at him. "We're going shopping tomorrow." Chloe said. "Then lunch at Mirabelle and then the Mandarin."

"You're going to the Mandarin." Oliver asked.

"I guess." Chloe shrugged. "What's the Mandarin?"

"A spa." Oliver told her.

"Oh." Chloe paused. "That sounds wonderful."

"Liar." Oliver laughed.

"Completely." Chloe laughed with him.

"Ok, ok, I'll let you get back to it but just so you know, from what I've heard over the grapevine, you done good kiddo." Oliver said sincerely.

"Don't call me kiddo." Chloe groaned. "I'll call you tomorrow."

"All right, have fun." Oliver hung up and Chloe walked back in the room to see each of them on their phones messaging.

"Ok, so you are officially cool." Rose said tucking her phone back in her bag and smiling at Chloe. "We've just put the word out."

"Wow." Chloe said smiling. "I should have had a speech prepared for this…where to start. Well I'd like to thank John Louis, obviously for teaching me everything he knows…" She pretended to tear up. "Oh god I'm just so happy…"

"Shut up." Abby threw a pillow at her and Chloe started laughing.

"Now we must go over the rules though." Rose patted the seat next to her on the couch and Chloe sat down. "You're going to be very, very busy for the next couple of months or so. You're the new it girl, the one everyone wants to see at their parties. Unfortunately for now you aren't going to be able to turn anyone down."

"Anyone?" Chloe asked her eyes wide.

"Anyone." Lily said. "You don't have the standing yet to refuse. Just give it a couple of months with us and you'll see."

"See what?" Chloe asked.

"Well instead of having to go to the hot places, where ever you go will be the hot place." Rose said.

"But for now." Abby sighed. "You'll have to go, you'll have to smile, and you'll have to pretend to like a lot of people."

"We'll tell you who it's ok to like." Lily said and Rose and Abby turned to her with a glare. Lily looked up confused. "No, I don't mean we'll tell you who to like." Lily smiled. "I just mean we'll tell you who we like but you can make up your own mind obviously."

"Thanks for the permission to pick my own friends." Chloe joked with her.

"She didn't mean it like that." Abby tried to assure her.

"I know." Chloe said. "You guys are really a lot cooler than I was expecting."

"I think that's a compliment." Rose said. "I'm not sure though."

"It was." Chloe said. "In my own unpolished way."

"Well you're way cooler than we expected." Abby said.

Elizabeth opened the door for Sylvia to bring their food in and conversation stopped while they ate and watched a movie and Chloe thought for a minute that the plan could actually work.

* * *

For some reason that was completely unfathomable to Chloe, Rose, Lily, and Abby seemed to bring her into their fold. For months after the garden party it was nonstop event after event from things like a poker night at Spencer Caulfield's, heir to the biggest oil fortune in Europe, to charity fundraisers for breast cancer awareness to believe it or not a book club. Chloe was exhausted. She couldn't wait until she reached that magical point in her popularity where she didn't have to accept every single invitation given to her. But for now it was high teas and formal diners, spa days and charity balls. "Miss Chloe." Simon took her coat after letting her in the door around 2 in the morning one night after a fund raiser for something that she was a little ashamed to admit she wasn't paying attention to.

"What are you doing up?" Chloe yawned. "I thought you were on day shift."

"I switched with Ryan last week." He put the coat in the hall closet and went back to his post.

Raymond walked out of the kitchen with a plate. "I thought I heard you." He said holding the plate out to her.

"You are a life saver." Chloe grabbed the slice of pizza and sighed in pleasure when she bit into it. "Do you have any idea how frustrating it is to know you're going to have a ten course meal and then get something with maybe three bites on a plate?"

"You'd think for a thousand dollars a plate they could give you an actual plate." Raymond smiled. He was currently studying under the head chef at the house but couldn't get his head around this new fad of molecular food.

"You'd think." Chloe took another bite of her pizza and smiled. "That's nice." Chloe yawned again and as her phone rang. "I'm just going to finish this, take a hot bath, and then sleep for a day." She pulled her phone out of her purse and then answered it. "Hello?" Raymond shook his head knowing that Chloe wasn't going to sleep. "Hey Oliver." She walked up the steps to her room and took another bite of her pizza.

"Saw you in the society pages yesterday." Oliver teased.

"Shut up." She groaned

"You looked so cute with your arm around Bryce Johnson."

"Ugh." Chloe sighed. "He's got hands everywhere doesn't he?" She took another bite of pizza.

"Well personally I wouldn't know." Oliver laughed. "Could you not eat while on the phone with me please." Oliver said.

"No." Chloe smiled. "It's the only time I have to eat. What's up?"

"I don't know." Oliver said. "What's up with you? You were supposed to call an hour ago."

"I know." Chloe said. "I couldn't get away."

"What was it this time?" Oliver asked.

"I don't even know Oliver." Chloe said. "These things are just blurring together."

"I know how that can be." Oliver said.

"Did I ruin everything? Are we still good to go?" Chloe said.

"Whenever you are." Oliver told her.

"Well just let me finish my pizza, change my clothes and start some coffee." Chloe pleaded with him.

"Sure." Oliver said.

"Thanks." Chloe fell down onto her bed and sighed kicking her shoes off. Then she cringed as they hit the wall, and not because of the noise they made but because they were four hundred dollar shoes and they really needed to be put back in their box. She groaned realizing just how much she'd changed and pulled herself up, picking up the shoes as she walked into her closet and hung the dress in the dry clean area and set the shoes back in their box gently. She grabbed some yoga pants and a sweat shirt and walked over to her office, pulled open a cabinet and sighed. She walked to the door and pulled her hair back as she pushed the intercom button. "Raymond?"

"Yes Miss Chloe, you need more pizza?" He asked.

"No, I'm out of coffee." Chloe said. "Do you think you could…"

"Caf or decaf?" He asked.

"What time is it?" She yawned.

"4:30. "

"Caffeinated." Chloe said.

"Right away." Raymond smiled. Chloe tied the ponytail in her hair and settled down at her desk opening her computer and turning it on. She smiled when Raymond walked in the door with his hands full.

"You're a life saver you know that." Chloe smiled as he walked over to the coffee pot and started a fresh one for her.

"Yeah yeah, I was up anyway." Raymond said.

"Why are you up?" Chloe asked.

"Sir Edward is going to France tomorrow; I have to prepare his food." Raymond said.

"They don't have food in France?" Chloe laughed.

"Not my food." Raymond smiled as he presented her with large slab of chocolate cake.

"I love you." She smiled taking a bite.

"Only because I bring you food." He said pouring her a cup of coffee and setting it down on the desk as she put her ear piece in. "Tell me if I'm out of line you know but what is it that you do in here?"

"Promise you won't tell?" Chloe asked.

"Promise." Raymond sat down smiling at her.

"It's my online Halo 3 team." She smiled at him. "I'm really just a big dork on the inside." She put her ear piece in and Raymond looked at her for a second.

"It's entirely plausible that I could believe that but for some reason…" He shrugged. "I'm just not feeling the nerd."

"What can I say?" Chloe smiled. "It's the smoking hot body; it totally covers my inner geek."

Raymond laughed and walked out of the room. She typed a few things in on her computer and sipped her coffee. "Watchtower in position…everyone ready?" Chloe looked at the screen.

"Ready and waiting."

"Yeah yeah, I'm here now ok so let's do this and cut the lip." Chloe glared at the screen even though they couldn't see her.

"Fine, everyone in position." Green Arrow said.

An hour later Chloe was so ready for bed, she wasn't sure if she could even make it there. "Green Arrow out."

"Aquaman out."

"Cyborg out."

"Impulse out."

"Watchtower." Chloe sighed. "Out." She logged off her screen and pulled her ear piece out before turning off the coffee pot and trudging to her bed which seemed so far away.

Halfway there her phone rang and she answer it, flopping down and closing her eyes. "What do you need Oliver?"

"Nothing, I just wanted to apologize for giving you a hard time." He said.

"At five in the morning?" Chloe yawned.

"I know it's late." Oliver said. "I don't mean to rag on you. I put you in this position and you're doing a great job."

"Umm. Chloe mumbled half listening.

"I lived that life." He reminded her. "I lived that life without another job and you're doing great."

"Yeah." Chloe mumbled.

"Are you asleep?" He asked suddenly.

"No." Chloe lied.

"You get some sleep; I'll call you in the morning." Oliver said.

"No." Chloe groaned.

"I'll call you in the afternoon." He laughed.

"Mmm." She hung up the phone and tossed it somewhere across the room before passing out.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: This chapter incorporates Fracture and Siren but switches them around so Fracture happened first.

* * *

It took almost a year but Abby was right, somewhere between tea parties and Charity balls, Chloe wasn't going to places because they were hot, where ever Chloe went became the hot spot. She was the one deciding what parties to go, who to hang out with, and where the cool spots were. Oliver's plan was right on track, she had been accepted, she had been more than accepted and there was no doubt in her mind that this whole thing was actually working.

Everything was going on track until one morning Chloe, Abby, Lily and Rose were having a late breakfast after having just come in from a party and Chloe noticed something in the paper Abby was reading.

"Can I see that?" Chloe asked leaning forward.

Abby nodded. "Sure." She handed it over.

"Chloe?" Rose asked a little worried by the look on Chloe's face. "Everything ok?"

"Grant Gabriel is dead." Chloe said reading the article. "He was shot in a mugging while leaving a restaurant in Metropolis."

"That's sad." Lily frowned sipping her coffee. "Who's Grant Gabriel?"

Rose slapped her. "The Editor of the Daily Planet." She whispered.

"Your old boss?" Abby asked.

"The one who fired you?" Lily set her coffee cup down as Rose slapped her again. "Why do you keep hitting me? He did fire her."

"Really are you ok?" Abby asked Chloe.

"I've got to call my cousin." Chloe said getting up from the table.

"Oh yeah." Lily said. "I forgot he was dating her cousin." Rose glared at Lily and she crossed her arms over her chest. "Don't hit me again." They looked over as Chloe paced back and forth in the front hall.

"Hello?" A teary voice answered the phone.

"Lois?" Chloe sighed. "Sweetie, I just heard about Grant."

"Oh Chloe." Lois said breaking down over the phone. "I wasn't…we were supposed to have dinner at home and I had to cancel at the last minute for a story. He shouldn't have been there."

"It's not your fault. Don't do this Lois." Chloe pleaded with her. "Who was he eating with?"

"Lionel Luther came to the paper and invited him to dinner. I don't know why." Lois said. "But if I hadn't canceled…"

"Stop that now." Chloe said. "Look I'm taking the plane to Metropolis; I'll be there as soon as I can."

"I don't want to put you out." Lois sniffled.

"You are my cousin and you're in pain and I'm going to be there for you." Chloe said. "So stock up on ice cream and bad movies ok, because I'm on my way."

"I love you Chlo." Lois said. "I really appreciate this."

"That's what families for." Chloe said hanging up the phone.

She looked down at her phone for a minute not believing that Lois was actually blaming herself for this whole thing. When in reality it was all Chloe's fault.

Three weeks before

_Lois was in the bedroom, putting the finishing touches on her outfit for the evening when her phone started ringing. "Grant." She called out. "Could you get that? It should be Chloe, she promised to call and give me a sound bite for that article." _

"_Sure." Grant reached for Lois' phone and answered it. "Lois Lane's phone." _

"_This isn't Lois." Chloe said confused. _

"_No, it's Grant…Grant Gabriel. How are you doing Chloe?" There was silence for a minute and then Chloe answered._

"_Pretty good." She said. "How about you?" _

"_I'm…fine." He glanced toward the room and noticed Lois was still searching through her jewelry box for something. "Listen can I ask you something?"_

"_Uh yeah, I guess so." Chloe said. _

"_That thing that you found out about me…" He paused. _

"_Yeah that you're the clone of Lex Luther's dead brother?' Chloe said. "That thing?" _

"_Yeah." Grant smiled. "That thing. Did you mean what you said? About Lionel?" _

_Chloe sighed deeply over the phone and thought carefully about what she was going to say. "Lionel Luther has definitely not been the best guy in the past. I was instrumental in putting him behind bars for the murder of his parents but…" She coughed. "He's a different man now, I never would have believed it myself, but it's true. Lionel would give anything to have his son back."_

"_Even if he's not really his son?" _

"_But he is." Chloe sighed. "You are. Look I just think that if you want to know what it's like to be a Luther, to know your family, Lionel's your best option." _

"_The lesser of two evils?" _

"_I guess you could put it that way." Chloe laughed. "What's all this about?"_

"_I don't want to be Lex's puppet anymore. I was thinking about telling Lionel who I am." _

"_I think that would be really good for both of you." Chloe said. "But be careful ok. You know who Lex is now, don't underestimate his ruthlessness." _

"_Thanks Chloe." Grant smiled. "Hey sorry about you know, firing you." _

"_Well in case you haven't heard, I was found by my very rich long lost Uncle who wants me to take over his multibillion dollar company so no hard feelings." _

"_I will say that you are one of a kind Chloe Sullivan." _

"_Yeah well you should have figured that out when I was on your payroll." Chloe joked. _

"_Ok." Lois said. "I'm ready, give me the phone." Grant handed the phone over to Lois. "All right, just let me jot this down and we'll go." _

"He told him." Chloe said to herself. "And Lex killed him for it."

"What?" Abby asked from behind her.

"Nothing." Chloe turned around. "I've got to go to Metropolis. Lois is really torn up."

"We figured you were going to say that and we want to come too." Rose walked up.

"You want to come to Grant Gabriel's funeral?" Chloe asked.

"No." Lily said. "I mean I'm sure he was a great guy and everything. We just want to be there for you."

Chloe looked at all of them. "This doesn't have anything to do with Lex's birthday party does it?"

"Maybe a little." Abby shrugged. "I've never been and Rose and Lily say that his parties are always interesting."

"Interesting is an understatement." Chloe sighed. "Ok, you can come. But we're leaving like now so you'll have to shop there, no time to pack." She pulled out her phone and called her Uncle's pilot setting up a flight plan as soon as possible.

"Shopping spree in Metropolis." Lily clapped her hands and then stopped abruptly and lowered her head. "Go on, you know you want to." Rose smiled and hit her in the back of her head.

* * *

Ten hours later Chloe stepped off her Uncle's plane with Abby, Lily, and Rose behind her and to her immense relief and surprise, standing on the tarmac was none other than Clark Kent. Seeing him made her realize just how long she'd been gone, how much she missed Smallville, and how far she'd really come in the past year. She ignored the argument between Rose and Lily on where they would stay and ran for all she was worth into his waiting arms. He caught her expertly and spun her around laughing with her as they reunited. "Oh God how I've missed you." She said when she pulled back and finally got a good look at him. "How did you know I would be here?"

"Lois told me you were coming." He smiled down at her then pulled her in for another hug. It had been too long since she'd seen Clark Kent. They talked on the phone and e-mailed back and forth but this was her first trip home since she left for England and it took seeing him again to realize that he wasn't an everyday part of her life anymore.

"Hello." She heard Abby say from behind her and Chloe turned to see her friend, sunglasses pulled down, eyeing Clark as if he were a decadent piece of chocolate. Clark blushed under her gaze and Chloe extracted herself from his arms to introduce everyone. "Clark Kent, this is Abigail Phillips and Rose and Lily Martin, this is Clark Kent, my best friend." She turned to Clark beaming at him and he smiled back after uttering "nice to meet you" to the other girls.

"Well." He said, feeling awkward as they all stared at him. "Let me get your bags." He walked to the plane where the Steward was unloading the luggage and took it off his hands.

"My, my, my." Abby said taking her sunglasses off completely now. "If I'd of known they made them this like this, I would have moved to Kansas a long time ago."

"I've always wanted a farm boy." Rose said and Chloe's jaw dropped as she slapped her on the shoulder.

"What?" Rose turned to Chloe amused. "He is fine, you can't deny it."

Chloe blushed a little and the girls looked at her smiling. "Oh you've had that then?"

"No." Chloe assured them. "Well kind of…it's complicated." Chloe put her own sunglasses on in an attempt to end the discussion.

"So where to ladies?" Clark asked when he'd gathered all their bags. Abby put her sunglasses back on and smiled.

"I booked the penthouse as the Four Seasons." She said.

"Your chariot awaits." Clark said walking in front of them to the car. He was smart and brought the SUV instead of the truck and drove them all to the hotel.

The bellboy showed them around the room and Lily declared herself exhausted and unable to shop without a nap. "I'm pretty beat too." Abby said, their night of partying and day of travel catching up with all of them.

"Well I'm going to go have coffee with Clark, maybe go see my cousin. The funeral's tomorrow morning so I might just stay in Smallville and come back after, then we can go shopping, sound good?" They agreed to the plan and Chloe grabbed her bag and walked to the door.

"Shopping?" Clark asked. "I thought you came for Grant's funeral?"

"I did, they came for Lex's birthday party." Chloe sighed. "Which I would give my right kidney not to have to go to but…"

"Funny, you would have given anything to get into Lex's birthday party a few years ago." Clark reminded her.

"Well things change." Chloe said. "We left in a hurry, didn't get to pack much."

"I thought the luggage felt a little light for four girls." Clark said.

"Light?" Chloe raised an eyebrow. "Would that be because you have the strength of 200 men?"

Clark blushed again and threw his arm around Chloe's shoulder. "I missed you Chloe."

"I missed you too." Chloe said.

They had coffee, caught up on each other's lives for the past year and then Clark took her back to Smallville so she could spend some time with Lois. Chloe came bearing ice cream and John Hughes movies and Lois spent the better part of the night alternating between crying over Grant and yelling about how mad she was at him before she passed out from sheer exhaustion. When she was sure Lois was in bed she pulled out her phone and dialed Oliver's number to let him know she was in Smallville but he didn't answer. Before she could start to worry about that the late night and jet lag caught up with her and she was asleep on the couch.

She got up early with Lois the next day and went to Grant's funeral. After bringing Lois back to her apartment to have some alone time Chloe borrowed her car and went back to Metropolis to get the shopping over with. Four hours later she was dressed in the dress she'd found at the first store waiting on the others to get ready. She walked out on the balcony and called Oliver again, only to get his voicemail. She wondered for a minute if she should be worried but realized if he was out on Justice League business she would know about it and figured he was really busy at work.

"Chloe, did you want to borrow my necklace?" Abby called out to her and she came back to her senses and went back inside.

"Yeah thanks, I didn't grab any jewelry." Chloe took the Sapphire encrusted necklace from Abby, not used to such extravagant jewels but had to admit it went great with her dress. "Are you guys ready to enter the lion's den?"

"Honestly Chloe." Abby sighed grabbing a shawl on her way out the door. "You talk as if he's this evil mastermind."

Chloe was glad they were all in front of her and didn't see the way her eyebrows rose with Abby's comment.

Walking into the Luther Mansion was something that Chloe was sure she'd never do again, nothing good had ever happened in this place as far as she was concerned. "Ok, don't embarrass me." Chloe said to Abby, Lily and Rose who all looked at her with a smirk on her face and she had another realization at how far she'd come since that insecure girl at the garden party. "Just behave." She said when they walked in the house and the butler took their shawls.

"Chloe!" Lana's voice rang over all the noise in the house if that was somehow possible as she pushed her way through the crowd. "Oh God, it's so good to see you, it's been what a year?"

"About that." Chloe said hugging Lana. "This is Lily and Rose Martin, and Abigail Phillips."

"Hello." Lana said, a little surprised at the company Chloe was keeping. The knowledge that Chloe had become and overnight heiress must not have hit her yet, or rather the implications of that. "It's so great that you guys could be here." She kissed all their cheeks and led them into the ball room. "You've got to tell me everything, what's England like, your Uncle, what you've been up to."

"We should get together for coffee while I'm in town." Chloe avoided the conversation smiling.

"That would be great." Lana said. "Oh, you've got to come see Lex; he'll be so surprised to see you here."

"I'm sure he will." Chloe smiled thinking she had a few things she'd like to say to him herself.

"Of course we have to wish him a happy birthday." Abby said, picking up on the sarcasm in Chloe's voice when Lana didn't and glaring at her for it. Chloe shrugged in response and Lana dragged them all around the party looking for the birthday boy.

"Here his is." Lana stopped abruptly and Chloe almost ran into her. "I've been looking all over for you."

"You have?" He smiled and leaned down to give her a kiss, excusing himself from the conversation he was in.

"I have." Lana smiled. "Guess who's here?" She pulled Chloe more front and center and it took Lex a moment to recognize her.

"Chloe Sullivan." Lex said grabbing her hand and pulling her in to kiss her cheek. "It's been such a long time."

"Lex." She smiled while trying not to throw up all over the floor. "Happy Birthday."

"Thank You." He ducked his head, feigning embarrassment over the whole thing. "And Lily and Rose." He kissed their cheeks smiling almost genuinely at them. "It's been longer than a year since I've seen you two."

"Since your second wedding." Lily said and Chloe had to bite her lip from laughing. "We weren't at the new one." She turned to Lana as if just realizing she'd said the wrong thing. "No offense."

"None taken." Lana laughed uneasily.

Chloe coughed to change the subject and smiled. "This is Abigail Philips." She introduced Lex and Abby and the two talked for a minute about mutual acquaintances.

"Is that Leslie?" Rose said after a few minutes. "She didn't tell us she was coming." She grabbed Abby and Lily's arm and dragged them away.

"Excuse me; I'm neglecting my hostess duties." Lana kissed Chloe's and wandered off as Lex handed her a glass of champagne.

"That's a different crowd than you're used to." Lex raised his eyebrows.

"Well I like making new friends." She smiled.

"And new family." He raised his glass to her. "I have to say. I don't think anyone was as surprised as I was to hear about the new heir to the Standish dynasty."

"I think Lois was." Chloe laughed.

"Yes, you managed to keep this, even from her." Lex thought for a second and Chloe sipped her champagne.

"If I want something hidden, it stays hidden." Chloe smiled. "You can relate to that." She looked up at him and knew that she would probably regret what she was about to do. "I wonder who would be the most surprised to learn how well you hid your brother?"

Lex froze with the glass halfway to his mouth. "My brother?" He asked.

"Grant Gabriel?" Chloe frowned. "Or should I say, Julian Luther 2.0?"

Lex chuckled. "Chloe, I'd be careful…"

"What I accuse you of." Chloe rolled her eyes interrupting him. "Yeah I know." She sipped her drink. "I can't prove it, and frankly that's not my job anymore, but I know you killed him."

"Why would I kill my own brother?" Lex asked.

"Maybe because he wasn't yours anymore." Chloe shrugged. "He was branching out, bonding with daddy." Chloe set her glass down on a nearby table. "Do you and Lionel ever go out for steak dinner?" She smiled. "If you'll excuse me." She figured she'd better move along before Lex fully realized what she knew, or what she suspected rather and ran straight into the person she would rather have not.

"Miss Sullivan." Lionel held out a hand to steady her.

"Mr. Luther." She smiled slightly at him and before she could stop herself she'd said it. "I'm sorry…for your loss."

His face betrayed a range of emotion, from surprise to sadness to a small smile. "If anyone would know." He grabbed her arm and slipped it through his before he started walking to the terrace with her. "Losing him twice, I don't even know how to process that."

"I'm afraid." Chloe turned to him when they'd made it outside. "That it's my fault."

"Your fault?" Lionel raised his eyebrows. "How on earth could it be your fault?"

"I told him, when I found out what Lex had done, I told him to tell you." Chloe said tears coming to her eyes. "I told him you would want to know."

"I did want to know." Lionel assured her.

"But if he hadn't told you, Lex wouldn't…" Chloe took a deep breath. "He'd still be alive."

"No." Lionel shook his head. "This is not your fault. The blame here lies entirely with Lex."

"I want to believe that." Chloe smiled sadly at him.

"I should probably thank you." Lionel smiled at her. "Knowing he was here, what kind of man he'd have become is a gift. However short a time he was here."

"Thank you." Chloe patted his arm. "For that then."

"I must leave you now." Lionel backed away. "I hope you enjoy the party."

Chloe smiled at him and nodded. She stared at the sky and took a few deep breaths to calm herself down. She knew, deep down that Lionel was right. Grant's death was Lex's fault. His desire to play God, to create and destroy people at will was out of control. "What are you doing out here?" Rose asked walking up to Chloe and snapping her out of her head.

"Sorry, just getting some fresh air."

"Well it's a little cold." Lily said rubbing her shoulders. "And this is so boring."

"Yeah we were thinking of cutting out early." Abby admitted. "I understand what you guys meant about Lex Luther now, it's all about the hype." Chloe laughed and nodded, she would have no problem leaving early and was about to say so when she heard screams from inside.

"What?" She ran to the window and saw a flash of Green.

"Oh God, is that the Green Arrow?" Lily asked.

"Come on, let's get out of here." Rose turned to go into the other door, that led to the study and Chloe was about follow when she was a flash of red come into the room and she grabbed Rose's arm.

"Wait, I just…" She looked back at the ballroom and started in the opposite direction on the terrace.

"Is she following him?" Lily asked incredulously.

"I think so." Abby started to go after Chloe.

"Why are we following her?" Lily whined as she made her way after Abby with Rose right behind her.

"Chloe." Abby caught up with her. "This guy is dangerous, what are you doing?"

"And he'll steal our jewelry." Lily pointed out.

"I'm just curious." Chloe turned to smile at Abby. "It's that reporter in me." She turned her attention back to the ballroom and kept walking further down. "You guys don't have to come."

"Are you kidding?" Rose passed up Lily smiling and watching the action inside the room. "This is the most fun I've had at one of these things in a while."

Chloe smiled and took off her shoes, heading toward the grass. "There's a path down here, leads to the Gardner's quarters, he'll go out that way." They all followed her, taking off their shoes so they could run in the grass easier.

"How do you know that?" Lily asked. "How does she know that?"

"Because that's how I'd leave." Chloe smiled, feeling that familiar heart racing, adrenaline rush she always got when sneaking around somewhere. They turned the corner and Chloe froze in her tracks.

"Holy Crap." Lily said straightening up and staring at the Green Arrow, who was right in front of Chloe.

"Miss Sullivan." Green Arrow said in that deep voice of his. "Long time no see." He looked down and brought his hand up to her necklace, holding it for a minute before dropping it. "You should be careful where you wear your fine jewelry." His gaze fell to her wrist and smiled when he saw the charm bracelet. He looked back up to Chloe and smiled bigger when he saw her glaring at him. He turned to Abby, Rose, and Lily. "Ladies." He nodded at them before shooting an arrow into the top of the castle and then pushed a button, pulling himself up to roof.

"Is it just me?" Lily said slowly. "Or was that really hot?"

Chloe turned and looked at her to see all of them staring back. "He knew your name."

"We've had a few run ins." Chloe said. "When I lived in Metropolis before."

"The Green Arrow knew your name." Rose repeated.

"I'm sure he knew yours." Chloe pointed out.

"But he didn't use it." Rose said.

Chloe just shook her head and walked away. She went back to the Penthouse with the girls and after everyone finally fell asleep. Abby, Lily, and Rose hung out with Chloe the next day for a while before they left, Chloe stayed behind claiming she wanted to spend more time with her cousin. As soon as they were gone she grabbed her bag and made her way to the Clock tower, mumbling to herself and getting herself more and more angry the further she walked. She was working up to the biggest temper she'd had in a while when the elevator stopped and she pulled the grate open to see him standing there, toweling off his hair like he'd just gotten out of the shower. "Hey." He smiled at her, a soft smile, and her anger flew out the window when she realized how happy she was to see him in person, Oliver and not the Green Arrow. She ran up and hugged him tightly, glad that they were face to face and not over the phone or the internet.

"Good to see you too Watchtower." Oliver said smiling as he returned her hug. With the use of her codename, her anger returned and she pulled back and slapped him as hard as she could. "What was that for?" He said rubbing his shoulder.

"Don't be a baby." Chloe crossed her arms over her chest. "That didn't hurt."

"Well." Oliver shrugged.

"I really had to think on my feet there." Chloe said. "You could have warned me. You're lucky I saw a flash of Bart's shirt or Rose and Lily would have run straight into him. You're supposed to keep me in the loop on all this."

"I didn't know you were here." Oliver countered. "It's not like you were doing a lot with the loop keeping."

"You haven't been answering your phone." She sighed then she lifted her hand and slapped him again.

"What was that for?" He said, his voice a little high pitched.

"Because for a second, for one split second you thought about taking my necklace." She glared at him. "I know you Oliver Queen; I know that look you get."

"It was a nice necklace." Oliver smiled sheepishly at her. She smiled at him and chuckled a little. "Anyway, down to business."

"Oh sure business." Chloe walked into the Clock Tower and Oliver followed. "Because we can't just relax, have a nice night, catch up."

"We could do that." Oliver smiled at her. "After we deal with something."

"Fine." Chloe sighed. "Lay it on me."

"Bart caught wind of something when he was in Lex's office today. Lex is getting some information from one of his labs in three days and I need you to intercept it." Oliver said. "Can you extend your trip?"

"Sure." Chloe got up. "Well this was great, lovely to see you." She grabbed her bag and walked to the door. "We should do this again sometime."

"Chloe." Oliver rushed over and grabbed her arm before she made it to the elevator. She turned to him and smiled sadly. "How have you been?"

"I've been good Oliver." She smiled at him. They looked at each other for a minute and Chloe smiled. "How about you?"

"Can't complain." He smiled back. "You want to go get some dinner? Catch up?"

"No one's supposed to know you're in town remember?" Chloe said.

"I'll order in." Oliver grabbed the phone and Chloe set her bag down.

The phone rang before he could dial a number and he looked at it confused. "Victor." He answered the phone and then looked at Chloe before turning on the news. "I'll call you back."

"What's going on?" Chloe said confused.

"Just watch." Oliver turned the volume up.

"Just minutes ago." The reporter said. "A helicopter dropped him off at Metropolis General but the doctor's aren't having high hopes for his recovery."

"Thank you Lisa." The desk anchor said. "For those of you just tuning in, Lex Luther was just rushed to Metropolis General with a gunshot wound to the head, we'll keep you posted as information comes in."

"Holy shit." Chloe said astonished.

The elevator dinged as Oliver and Chloe tried to process this and Clark stormed in the room, relief on his face when he saw them both. "Lois is missing." He said without any preamble. "She said she had a lead on Kara, and she left after the funeral yesterday and she's not answering her phone, she didn't even tell me where she went."

"Ok." Chloe said. "Slow down and start at the beginning."

"Who's Kara?" Oliver asked confused.

"Clark's cousin from Krypton, it's a long story but it ends with her going missing a few months ago." Chloe said then turned her attention back to Clark. Chloe had heard quite a lot about Kara but had yet to meet the Kryptonian.

Clark sat down on the couch and told them about Kara being missing and Lois helping him look for her. "Ok, but what makes you think that something's wrong? This is Lois we're talking about she could have forgotten to charge her phone."

Clark pulled Lois' phone out of his pocket and showed it to Chloe. She reached out tentatively and grabbed it. "The police found it on Lex." Chloe's head shot up, Lex who had just been brought back to town with a gunshot wound to the head had recently been with her cousin, who was missing.

Chloe immediately walked over to the computer and plugged the phone in. "We know she was in Detroit, that's where Lex was but they don't know where." Clark said.

"Damnit." Chloe groaned. "She didn't make any calls from there. I'm gonna send Victor the picture she took, see if he can find anything that might tell us where this diner is."

Clark relaxed a bit. "I just wish we could get information from Lex's head the way you did from the phone. He knows where she is." Chloe and Oliver exchanged a look and Clark stopped talking. "What?" They didn't say anything. "If you guys know something."

"There were rumors." Chloe said cautiously. "Of some sort of machine Lex created for the army. It was a new form of interrogation device. It allowed the interrogator to go into the mind of terrorists."

"I'll call Lionel." Clark pulled out his phone.

"The project was cancelled." Chloe said. "Because it was too dangerous, all three tests ended in death Clark, for the interrogator and the suspect."

"What other choice do we have?" He practically screamed.

"Me." Chloe said suddenly. "I can do it, I can save him and then he can tell you where Lois is."

"No." Clark backed away from her.

"What do you mean you can save him?" Oliver asked Chloe.

"Clark you know I can do this." Chloe pleaded with him.

"It's too dangerous, I won't let you." He argued.

"You won't let me?" Chloe balked at him. "Since when is it your decision to make?"

"The last time you did that you died." Clark told her.

Oliver looked at Chloe sharply but couldn't seem to form words. "You died?" He asked but she ignored him.

"But it's ok for you to go into some stupid machine that was built by Lex Luther that we know has killed at least six people?" Chloe pointed out.

"I'm not like normal people." Clark pointed out. "I'm calling Lionel." He turned away from Chloe and she was left with a very confused Oliver staring at her.

"What does he mean you died?" Oliver asked. Chloe knew this was coming, knew that at some point she'd have to tell Oliver about her powers. Hell working for the team she figured it was only a matter of time before she'd have to use them. "And what did you mean when you said you could save him?"

"Oliver." Chloe looked over at Clark who was talking animatedly with Lionel. "Remember a few years ago when you helped my mom?" He nodded. "The reason why Lex took her, the reason he gave her the cure, was to get to me. I have Meteor powers."

"What?" Oliver asked concerned.

"Tobias, the guy who could see the infected? Well he saw me, and he told Lex and Lex took me and did some sort of test and it confirmed that I had some sort of Meteor power, but they hadn't manifested yet, he didn't know what I could do so he let me go." Chloe said. "To watch me I guess, see what I could do."

"What can you do?" Oliver said quietly.

"I can heal people." She looked up at him.

He met her gaze and smiled slightly. "That's amazing." He said to her.

"Well it's a double edged sword." She sighed. "I don't really heal them so much as take their injuries from them and then heal myself."

Oliver sat down and put his head in his hands. "Wow." Chloe sat next to him and bit her bottom lip nervously. "What did he mean when he said you died?"

"Lois was hurt." Chloe told him. "She was dead. I didn't even know what I was doing, it was the first time I'd used the powers and I brought her back, but I died in her place. I woke up a few hours later in a morgue drawer. Not the most pleasant moment of my life."

"So if you do this?" Oliver asked her. "You could die again?"

"But I would come back." Chloe said.

"You don't know that for sure." Clark said from behind them. "And I'm not going to take that chance. Lionel's got the machine prepped, he's moving Lex from the hospital."

"I'm going with you." Chloe stood up.

"Me too." Oliver said.

"No, you need to stay here." Chloe pushed him back down in the seat. "That would look too suspicious, and Victor might call with some information that could make this whole thing a moot point." Reluctantly Oliver nodded as they left the Penthouse.

"Hey Watchtower." Oliver called to her. "Be careful, you've got work to do in a few days."

"Yes sir." She mock saluted him and then got in the elevator.

* * *

Oliver sat down, then stood up and paced, then sat down again. He turned the television on then got frustrated and turned it off again. He couldn't get comfortable, he couldn't think. He wasn't worried about Clark; Clark could take care of himself. He was trying to process, Chloe, tiny, spunky little Chloe could basically bring people back from the dead, not that it didn't come at a price. He didn't care of course, powers or no powers it didn't matter to him. She was still Chloe, still his friend, one of his best friends, possibly the best friend he'd ever had. But she didn't trust him enough to tell him about this, and that hurt.

The hurt he felt couldn't even compare however to the wrenching in his gut when the elevator opened two hours later and he saw Lionel Luther standing there, holding a completely lifeless Chloe in his arms. "What happened?" Oliver said rushing over and taking her from him.

"I don't know." Lionel walked in as Oliver carried her over to the couch and laid her down. He checked her pulse, there was nothing there. "She did something." Lionel said. "Something to Lex, she saved him and then she…Clark said not to take her to the hospital to take her here. That you would know what to do."

Oliver looked at Chloe's dead body confused. How was he supposed to know what to do? He only found out about this two hours ago. "She's going to be fine." He said, trying to convince himself more than Lionel.

"She saved my son's life." Lionel said. "If there's anything I can do…"

"Leave." Oliver told him. Lionel just nodded and walked to the elevator as Oliver sat in the chair beside Chloe and waited. She'd said when she saved Lois; she was dead for a few hours, she he'd just have to wait, she'd wake up in a few hours. Three hours later Clark came rushing in the room to find Chloe on the couch and Oliver in the chair, just staring at her. "You gotta wake up Chloe." He was whispering. "I can't do this without you."

"She's not…" Clark stepped forward and Oliver turned, surprised to face him.

"No." Oliver stood up. "You said a few hours; it's been a few hours. Why isn't she awake?" Oliver screamed at her.

"I don't know." Clark screamed back. "This isn't an exact science."

They stared at each other before they both turned to Chloe and sat down. "Lois is ok, by the way." Clark mumbled.

"Good." Oliver said absentmindedly.

Coffee was made, calls were ignored, and Clark and Oliver took turns pacing in the small living room before finally, 18 hours later Chloe shot bolt up from the couch gasping for breath. Surprisingly Oliver got to her before Clark and grabbed her. "I'm here, your fine." He said rubbing her back as her breathing slowed down.

"Lois?" She asked still panting slightly.

"Fine, her and Kara are back at the farm." Clark smiled.

"Lex?" She said.

"Perfectly healthy." Clark sat down. "I don't know how we're going to explain that one."

"Lionel saw." Chloe said. "He knows."

"You can trust him." Clark assured her. Oliver wanted to snap at him, Chloe could trust Lionel Luther with her biggest secret but not him. Her breathing returned to normal and she ran a shaky hand through her hair then smiled.

"Food?" She asked hopefully.

Clark and Oliver cracked the smallest of smiles. "I'll be right back." Clark said and super speeded out of the room.

"Are you ok?" Oliver asked.

"I'm fine." She swung her legs around and tried to stand up. "I'd have been better if you'd put me in a bed." She tried to joke.

"I'm sorry I wasn't really clear on dead body etiquette." Oliver snapped at her.

"Hey." She said offended. "I'm sorry, I know this was all kind of thrust upon you, really quickly, I get that, but what was I supposed to do, if Lex died, so did Clark."

Oliver deflated. "I know, I'm sorry for snapping at you." He walked over and helped her stand up. She stretched her muscles and seemed to regain more control over her hands and legs. "I just, when he walked in here and you were dead."

"It was a shock for me the first time too." She laughed.

"Dinner is served." Clark said suddenly from the other side of them. "I've got Chinese, hamburgers, pizza, and salad."

"God, I'm so hungry I could eat it all." Chloe grabbed for the first bag she saw and pulled a French fry out of it. "How could this possibly be the best thing I've ever tasted?" She asked astonished.

"Because you've been dead for half a day." Clark pointed out.

"Could be." Chloe said grabbing a plate from the kitchen and a drink from the fridge.

After Chloe ate, and she did eat most of what Clark brought back, he gave her his own lecture on being careful with her powers and then he left her and Oliver alone. "Are you going to tell the guys?"

"At some point I'm going to have to." Chloe said. "I'm just not sure how to work it into conversation. "Hey guys look what I can do" just doesn't seem appropriate."

"You're not worried are you?" Oliver asked, picking at some of the Chinese that she hadn't managed to stuff into her stomach. "How they'll react?"

"A little." She said honestly.

"Chloe." Oliver put his fork down. "These are three guys, all with their own special powers; you think they're going to think differently of you?"

"I guess not." Chloe sighed. "But they don't get their powers from the Meteor rocks." She pointed out. "I don't know where they come from but it's different. You don't understand. Every person I've ever run into with meteor powers have ended up going insane, killing people, stealing things."

"Is that why you didn't tell me?" Oliver asked. "Because you're scared of them?" She nodded. "You're not going to go insane, you aren't going to start killing people or stealing things, or plotting world domination because I won't let you." Chloe chuckled. "I mean come on, you heal people, what kind of criminal mastermind would you even be with that power?"

"You have a point there." Chloe nodded.

"Of course I do." Oliver said. "Right, it's getting late."

"Oh." Chloe said jumping up. "That thing." She grabbed her bag. "For Lex. I have to intercept it."

"Slow down there Sidekick." Oliver grabbed her arm as she headed for the elevator. "You need to rest."

Chloe glared and pulled her hand away, and then smacked him as hard as she could. "Don't call me Sidekick." He rubbed his shoulder. "And I just rested for eighteen hours. I'm here, the information is coming in tonight, you need it, I can get it, no brainer. I'll use a computer at the Planet, Grant never took away my access cards, Lex won't be able to trace it."

Oliver looked over at her and realized he would never win in this fight. "Fine." He walked over to the desk and pulled something out. "But I want you on coms the whole time."

"Fine." She caught the earpiece he threw to her and stuck it in her ear. "Happy?" Chloe asked.

"Ecstatic." He said as she closed the elevator.

The Planet was quiet at two in the morning and Chloe sat down at Shawn Freeman's desk, a guy who'd she always disliked, incase she's lied to Oliver and Lex could trace it, and got to work. Intercepting the file was easy enough, a little bit harder with Oliver in her ear the whole time. What she was definitely not expecting was the knife throwing maniac who chased her to the roof. For all her annoyance at Oliver he managed to get there quickly and stop the chick from killing her but now without her getting away with the disk.

Oliver brought her back down to the Daily Planet and insisted on fixing Chloe's cut. "I'm fine Oliver." Chloe winced as he put antiseptic on her cheek.

"This is not fine." He dropped the tissue in the trash and reached in the first aid kit for a band aid.

"It's a small cut." Chloe said. "I've had paper cuts that hurt worse than this."

"I don't like putting you in danger." Oliver secured the bandage and looked at her sighing.

"You aren't putting me into anything." Chloe said. "I knew what I was getting into when I took this job."

"I don't think anyone knew what they were getting into when they took this job." He laughed.

"I'm sorry I lost the disk." Chloe said.

"I'm not." Oliver assured her. "Not if it means saving your life."

Chloe smiled and patted his cheek. "Oh then you don't want this." She pulled something up on the computer and turned the monitor to him. Information scrolled down the screen faster than he could take it in.

"How did you…" Oliver looked from the screen to Chloe and back again.

"Please." She scoffed. "This ain't my first rodeo. You don't think I make backups?"

Oliver grabbed her face and planted a kiss square on her lips. "You are the best."

"I know." Chloe smiled at him and he looked at her hopefully. "I'll get on this as soon as I can."

Dinah looked through the window and sighed. This was going to have to be dealt with.

She spent the better part of the morning with Clark trying to figure out who the crazy lady was and finally realizing it was Dinah Lance. Clark immediately set out to find her and Chloe stayed in the Penthouse decrypting the information she'd stolen from Lex and fielding calls from Lois. "He's back." Was the first thing Lois had said to her and Chloe almost jumped off the couch.

"Whose back?" She asked fearfully, assuming Lois was talking about Grant. Back as in risen from the dead, which would not be such a strange thing in her life.

"Oliver freaking Queen." Lois said angrily. "It was in this morning's paper."

"Oliver's here?" Chloe feigned ignorance. "You think he showed up for Lex's birthday?"

Lois scoffed. "Not likely." She sighed. "What should I do?"

"I don't know Lois, what do you want to do?" Chloe asked.

"Part of me wants to go over there and kick his ass." Lois growled. "And part of me wants to go over there and throw him down…"

"TMI." Chloe laughed. "Just, talk to him; figure out why he's in town before you jump down his throat."

"I guess you're right." Lois sighed. "Thanks."

"No problem." Chloe hung up the phone and started to dial Oliver's number then stopped. She contemplated not giving him any advanced warning but that would be petty and selfish, no matter how much he'd pissed her off the night before. She finished the number and smiled thinking about the yelling Oliver was about to receive. "Hey, just wanted to give you a heads up. Lois knows you're in town, not happy about it, and on her way to let you know that."

"Crap." Oliver sighed. "I was going to call her."

"Not soon enough." Chloe smiled. "Good luck." She said before hanging up the phone and getting back to her work, not realizing that she was being watched until something hard came down on her head and she slipped into unconsciousness.

Thanks to Chloe's advance warning, the fight with Lois could have gone worse, that was until the crazy knife throwing ninja lady showed up and shattered every piece of glass in his apartment, not only knocking him out but exposing his secret to Lois who had more than her share of things to say to about the whole thing. He couldn't help thinking about what Chloe had said to him many times, if he had just told Lois a long time ago, she wouldn't be screaming in his ear nonstop right now, which was not helping his attempt to get out of the ropes.

"I should have listened to Chloe." Oliver sighed.

"Chloe." Lois screeched. "What does Chloe have to do with…." She was silent and for some reason that scared Oliver even more. "Chloe knew about you didn't she?"

"Lois." Oliver tried to back pedal but he had a feeling it was too late.

"Of course Chloe knew about this. She's a real reporter, she probably knew right from the start." Lois sighed.

"Not right from the start, it took her a while." Oliver said.

"I'm so stupid." Lois sighed. "We are all sitting down and having a serious talk after…" Black Canary walked up and smacked Lois in the mouth.

"You know the blonde didn't talk near this much." Canary smiled at Oliver as he turned around. "In fact she refuses to say anything; she's an ideal hostage you know."

"What did you do with Chloe?" Oliver said.

"You have Chloe?" Lois screamed. "Why does she have Chloe Oliver?" Lois asked and Oliver winced.

"So your girlfriend doesn't know." Canary said. "About your little sidekick."

"Please tell me you called Chloe a sidekick." Oliver smiled. "Because then I'll know she at least got one good punch in."

"You know that's right." Lois smiled.

"Oh." Canary stopped pacing and looked at Oliver. "Not a sidekick. Not another girlfriend, you apparently don't trust those with your secret, besides your taste in women isn't that good." Canary leaned back. "She must be your partner."

"Where is Chloe?" Oliver said.

"Lex thinks you're the sole leader of this little band of merry men." Canary smiled. "But you guys are partners aren't you? She's your second in command. This is going better than I thought."

"She's your partner?" Lois said quietly.

"Lois, I'm trying not to be an ass hole but we really need to talk about this later." Oliver said through clenched teeth.

"Right." Lois whispered.

"Lex is going to be ecstatic about this." Canary pulled out her phone.

"Look, I understand Lex has you convinced that he's the good guy and we're the bad guys but I'm telling you right now, if you make that call, if you hand Chloe over, she won't live to see tomorrow." Canary paused with the phone to her ear.

"Don't be so dramatic." Canary said. "He'll turn her over to the police."

"No he won't. He'll kill her, he will experiment on her, possibly torture her for information about me and then he'll kill her, if only so he can perform an autopsy. Take me, give me to Lex."

"Oliver no." Lois said.

"Let Chloe go." Oliver said.

"Why would he experiment on her?" Canary asked. Oliver looked at Canary nodded to Lois and then shook his head no. "We're going." She grabbed Oliver and pulled him out of the chair.

"No." Lois started to squirm in her seat. "No let him go. Let them both go, let us all go you freak." Lois screamed.

Canary paused when she walked by Lois and hit her again, knocking her out. "Does she ever shut up?" Canary asked then turned to Oliver. "Why would he experiment on her?"

"Because she's got meteor powers." Oliver said. "And Lex knows, and he's obsessed. I have proof." Oliver turned around and held his arms out to her. She pulled out a knife and cut his ropes.

"I'm keeping an eye on you." Canary said. "Show me this proof." Oliver nodded and walked toward his now not so secret room.

Chloe stared around the penthouse, the best luxury money could buy and not a sharp edge on a single piece of furniture. Chloe moved her chair from the dining room table, aiming for the balcony doors; maybe she could use the latch to cut through the ropes. She was almost there when there was a thump and the doors opened reveling the Green Arrow smiling at her.

"Hey." Oliver leaned down and pulled his hood back smiling at Chloe. "How you doing?"

"The service in this place sucks." Chloe said as he pulled her gag down. "The last time I was kidnapped, they tied me up with silk; a girl gets accustomed to a certain lifestyle you know." Oliver laughed. "You?" She nodded to the side of his head where he was still bleeding a little.

"I'm good." He smiled at her and reached to untie her ropes.

"Oliver, don't move." Chloe whispered as the Black Canary landed behind him on the balcony, he froze. "Behind you." He turned quickly but didn't move when he saw the Black Canary standing there.

"She's on our side now." Oliver told Chloe.

"Oh, it would be nice to know these things in a timely fashion." Chloe pulled her arms free of the ropes and looked up staring at the Canary.

"I'm on my side." She said matter of factly. "I just choose to help you out here."

"We don't need your help." Chloe said crossing her arms over her chest and staring at Canary intently.

"She's going to help me get into Lex's." Oliver said to Chloe.

"Is there going to be a problem here sidekick?" Black Canary sneered.

"No." Chloe said. "I'm professional enough to deal with this." She said walking closer to Canary. Without warning Chloe reared back and smacked her fist into Canary's face. Canary fell back into the wall behind her and grabbed her mouth looking at Chloe in astonishment. "Don't ever call me a sidekick." Chloe said shaking her hand out.

Oliver tried to stifle his laughter from his position at the counter as Chloe walked over to him. "Feel better?"

"Yeah." Chloe said still shaking her hand as she grabbed a rag and started to clean his forehead.

"You're hands on fire isn't it?" Oliver asked.

"Oh yeah." Chloe nodded clenching her hand in a fist and hissing in pain. Oliver didn't try to hide his laugh then.

"So Oliver said you were a…Meta he called it. Had some sort of super hero power?" Canary asked wiping the blood off her lip.

"Not much of a superhero power." Chloe shrugged nodding to the side of Oliver head as she finished washing the blood off. She laid her hand over the cut and there was a slight glow under her palm and when she moved her hand away the cut was gone.

"Damnit Chloe." Oliver said. "What have I told you about that?"

"What? Wanted your battle scars?" Canary laughed looking at Oliver's now pristine forehead.

"I'd rather have them than her." Oliver glared as the cut that was on his forehead previously started to appear on Chloe's.

"Like you're supposed to walk into your board meeting tomorrow with an unexplainable gash on your head?" Chloe said ignoring the pain in her temple as she put the first aid kit away. "My hair will hide it."

"Kind of a crappy two headed power huh?" Canary asked.

"Just a little bit." Chloe smiled at her. "Let's head out." She stood up and walked to the elevator.

Oliver looked at her and shook his head. "Where do you think you're going?"

"I thought we had a plan?" Chloe said confused. "Lex's remember."

"You're not going to Lex's." Oliver shook his head grabbing her arm and taking her out of the elevator.

"Of course I'm going to Lex's." Chloe said confused.

"No." Oliver said. "You're staying here."

"Oliver." Chloe said sternly. "Could we not have this fight in front of the children?" She nodded her head to Canary who was smiling at the exchange. "I found something, on that information I intercepted. References to Project Cassandra, but it's on Lex's private computer."

"Bart was just on Lex's computer yesterday." Oliver reminded her.

"No, Bart was on the computer in his study. He doesn't know about the other one." Chloe pointed out. "It's a simple in and out." She explained. "You guys distract Lex, I get the info, and then we go for breakfast." She smiled. "I was thinking Waffle House or possible IHOP." Oliver opened his mouth to argue then closed it.

"You can't go in there like that." Oliver said sighing and walking over to Chloe's bag. "What have you got in here?" He asked as he flipped through her clothes.

"I don't do costumes." Chloe said sternly.

"You want to waltz into Luther's looking like Chloe Sullivan on all his security monitors?" Oliver asked her and she sighed.

Ten minutes later Chloe walked out of the bathroom. "I look like a homeless prostitute." She said looking herself over. The sunglasses hid her eyes but it also made it hard to see. She didn't bring a lot with her, but she had a few things that Rose had bought on their shopping trip that she'd left accidently. Chloe stood there in a pair of leather pants and knee high boots sighing.

"You can design your own outfit later." Oliver said. "But for right now, homeless prostitute is better than Chloe Sullivan." Oliver pointed out.

Chloe zipped up the skin tight hoodie, something Oliver had picked out for her even thought it didn't really match, claiming it was sort of a JLA signature, and walked over to the elevator.

When they got to Lex's Chloe made her way into Lex's real study. Not the one that Arrow and Canary were in right now, the one he hid from everyone, the one where his real computer was. She snuck in, glad to see that he was so arrogant it wasn't even guarded and set to work. She could hear the argument between Canary and Lex as she typed faster and faster, willing his machine to work harder as she downloaded every scrap of information she could find on Cassandra. "Hey." A voice said from the doorway and Chloe looked up confused. "What are you doing in here?"

She turned around to exit from a window or something but remembered that this was secret room, there were no windows, and no other doors except for the one behind the armed man. Chloe figured she could make a run for it, or she could go peacefully and serve as a distraction. When she heard the fight escalate between Canary and Lex she decided to go for distraction.

Oliver stayed in the shadows, even when Lex pulled out the gun, letting Canary do her thing, this was her fight for the moment but he almost couldn't restrain himself when the door opened and Chloe was shoved in the room by a large security guard. "Found her playing on your personal computer." He said and Chloe gripped the chair as she was flung forcefully forward.

"A friend of yours?" Lex looked between the two women and smiled aiming the gun at Chloe instead of Canary now.

"No." Oliver said jumping down from the balcony. "A friend of mine." He leveled his arrow at Lex who got off a shot at the same time the arrow left the bow. Oliver jumped sideways quickly and shoved Chloe to the side. "Stay down." He said before jumping back up and going for Lex. Canary flew past Chloe and took out the guards in the room as Oliver and Lex fought. Chloe backed herself into a corner as Lex fired off shots left and right, hitting his own security and whatever else he could aim at. Chloe got up, realizing she could make a break for the back patio, the same one the Green Arrow left by the day before but she didn't make it two feet before she fell again, her leg in searing pain. She looked down and saw the blood coming out and realized, astonished, that Lex had just shot her.

She reached to her waist and pulled off her belt, paying closer attention to the fight now as she wrapped the belt around her thigh above the gunshot wound and latched it as tight as she could. She managed to pull herself up to a standing position when she saw Lex's gun aimed straight at her head and he pulled the trigger. Oliver screamed and shot another arrow as Canary let fly one of her knives. Then she was out in the hallway and Clark was in front of her. "Oliver." Chloe said trying to get back in the room.

"He's fine." Clark said. "But you're not." He looked down at her leg in astonishment and Chloe smiled sheepishly.

"I think it hurts a lot worse than it actually is." She said and Clark shook his head as he picked her up and super speeded out of the mansion.

He beat Oliver back to the farm and laid Chloe on the couch. "We should take you to a hospital." Clark said.

"No." Chloe sighed. "What am I going to tell people? Things are different now, I go to the hospital and it's in the papers tomorrow."

"I hate this." Clark said. "The old Chloe would be able to go to the hospital with no problem."

"Well I'm not the old Chloe anymore." Chloe sat up wincing and realized something. "Are you ok with that?"

Clark turned to her confused. "What?"

"Are you ok with the fact that I'm not the old Chloe?" She asked.

"I didn't think you'd change so much." Clark admitted. "I just…I guess I wasn't prepared for…"

"I know I've changed a lot." Chloe said. "I mean some of the things I catch myself doing sometimes and I have to stop and realize that this is my life…but I like who I'm becoming and I hope that you do to."

"Of course I do." Clark smiled at her. "You're not different in a bad way." He assured her. "Just in a way I'm not used to yet." He grabbed her hand. "You will always be my best friend, you know that right?"

"Of course I do." Chloe said. "And you'll always be mine."

Oliver burst through the back door. "Chloe!" He screamed out.

"Living room." Chloe called to the kitchen smiling and Oliver rushed in and froze at the sight of her blood soaked leg.

"Oh god." He knelt down and looked at the wound.

"She was shot Oliver." Clark said.

"We can't go to the hospital." Chloe said. "But I think it's just a flesh wound, a through and through at any rate."

"She was shot Oliver." Clark said more forcefully this time and Oliver's head flew up.

"You don't think I know that?" He snapped at Clark.

"What was she doing there?" He asked and Oliver stood up letting his Green Arrow hood fall off. "Why would you bring her there?"

"Hey." Chloe said. "He didn't "bring" me." She countered.

"What's your problem Clark?" Oliver asked confused.

"You're putting her in danger Oliver. You promised me, when you asked if you could offer her the job, you promised me." Clark said. "That she wouldn't be in danger."

"What?" Chloe looked between the two of them confused.

"Oh like she was perfectly safe here with you, constantly being attacked by some meteor infected left and right?" Oliver pointed out.

"When you asked him?" Chloe said pulling herself up off the couch.

"That was different I can protect her." Clark said.

"Oh really?" Oliver screamed. "This coming from the guy who had someone bring me her dead body not 24 hours ago. You call that protecting her?"

"You asked him for what?" Chloe said. "Permission?"

"You didn't have to let her come." Clark said.

"Chloe is a big girl Clark. I'm not going to presume to tell her what she can and can't do." Oliver said. "I trust her to make the right decisions, hell she's smarter than the both of us combined and you know that."

"Smart doesn't do any good when there are guns and bullets Oliver." Clark pointed out.

"Hey!" Chloe shouted. They both turned and looked at her. "Both of you stop it. Clark, Oliver is right." Oliver smiled. "I'm a big girl. I make my own choices, and sometimes I make mistakes but you've got to let me make them." She told him. "I'm responsible for me, not you, not Oliver."

"Thanks Chloe." Oliver said.

"And you." Chloe turned on him. "You asked for his permission before offering me the job?" She looked so hurt that Oliver couldn't find anything to say. "Like it was his choice? Like he had a claim on me or something?" Clark smirked this time, glad that he wasn't the only one feeling the wrath of Chloe. "Don't smirk Clark, you're not out of the woods yet. You told him it was ok, which tells me that you thought it was your place to give him permission. I am not Sidekick Barbie. I don't belong to either of you, we will no longer be playing hot potato with my life. My life is mine and mine alone to make good choices or bad choices. Neither of you have any say in it what so ever is that clear?" They both looked at her sheepishly and nodded. "Good, now someone please go get a first aid kit before I bleed all over the couch."

Clark smiled sheepishly and walked to the kitchen to grab the kit. He heard Oliver move forward. "You should sit." He said and Clark could feel Chloe glaring at the Green clad archer. "Which is not me telling you what to do or how to live your life, it's just an observation on what position I feel you would be more comfortable in." Clark smiled and grabbed the kit walking back into the living room only to pause at the doorway.

"Oliver stop fussing." Chloe shoved him away as he tried to put a pillow behind her back.

He paused and set the pillow on the ground, lowering himself onto the coffee table to look at her. "Tower." He said softly and Chloe looked up at him smiling. "You're really ok?"

She reached out and grabbed his hand and Clark frowned a little when he clasped her hand tightly and brought it up to his lips. "I'm fine Oliver, seriously. This is just a little gunshot wound, no problem."

"I just…" He sighed and dropped her hand to his lap but didn't let go of it. "Black Canary made me realize something today. I mean I guess I kind of knew I figured it out when you were dead I was wondering what I would do without you, how I could possibly…and then she put it into words you know and…"

"Oliver." Chloe waggled her eyebrows at him. "Are you about to profess your undying love for me?"

He rolled his eyes at her released her hand. "No."

"Then spit it out." Chloe laughed at him and Clark smiled.

"I've got the team right." Oliver said. "I've got Bart and AC and Victor." Oliver sighed. "And then I've got you. You aren't part of the team Chloe. I mean that was the plan, to have you be part of the team, but you're not."

"Oh." Chloe said and then pulled her hand away slowly from him. "I get it." She smiled. "I mean the one time you let me go somewhere I get shot. I can see how that would…I get it Oliver its fine…"

"No." Oliver grabbed her hand back and smiled at her fondly. "You're not just a part of the team." He amended his statement. "You're more than that." She looked at him confused. "You're my second in command; you're my partner."

"I don't think so." Chloe shook her head sure Oliver had gone crazy.

"I count on your far more than I thought I was going to. I look to you for answers and suggestions and so do the other guys. If Bart told AC to do something I guarantee you it would end with one of them in a head lock, but you give an order they don't question they just act."

"But I'm not…" Chloe said laughing. "I mean I'm just Chloe."

"You could never be just Chloe." Clark said walking in the room finally. "I'm just glad someone other than me has finally realized that."

"I know now." Oliver glared at Clark and Chloe laughed as they patched up her leg.

"Hello!" Lois screamed from the back door. "Clark! Something terrible has happened."

"Oh this is going to be a fight." Chloe said getting off the couch and Oliver grabbed her arm pulling her down.

"I think it's time we both faced the music." Oliver said raising an eyebrow.

"In here Lois." Clark called and she walked in the room freezing at the sight of the bloody rags and Chloe who was waving sheepishly from the couch.

"I want to know everything." Lois said pacing back and forth while Clark stood off to the side. "And don't think you're getting out of this scot free." She turned on Clark. "I know you knew about this."

Clark looked at her in surprise and then at Oliver and Chloe who were trying not to laugh. "This is not funny." Lois said. "Go; start, from the freaking beginning." Lois said.

Oliver and Chloe opened their mouths but neither of them knew where to start the story. Lois looked at Clark expectantly and he shrugged. "Someone tell me something." Lois screamed.

"What do you want to know?" Oliver asked.

"Are you guys working together?" Lois asked.

"Yes." Chloe said.

"For how long?" Lois stopped pacing and was just looking at them now.

"Officially, about a year and a half." Chloe said. "Unofficially…since Oliver was here last time."

"Ok." Lois said. "So you knew and you didn't tell me."

"It's not my secret to tell." Chloe said.

"Ok, I can't really fault you there." Lois said. "You and I however are not ok about the secrecy." She said to Oliver. "But I'm dealing with Chloe now." Oliver nodded. "So the job offer." Lois started to put a few things together.

"Oliver." She said. "He wanted me to join him full time."

"What about Uncle Edward?" Lois said.

Chloe looked at Oliver and he nodded. "None of that is real."

"I knew it." Lois said. "I just…I mean not telling me Oliver is the Green Arrow is one thing but not telling me about an uber rich long lost uncle, never would have happened."

Chloe explained Oliver's plan, Edward agreeing to help them out and what they were ultimately going for. "So there are more than just you two?"

"A couple of guys." Oliver said.

"And you're not going to tell me who they are?" She asked.

"Not our secret." Chloe said again.

"Yeah yeah." Lois sighed.

"Hey Oliver." Chloe turned to him. "Why don't you and Clark head back to the Clock Tower? Start picking up all that glass." Oliver nodded and he and Clark walked out of the house to give them some alone time.

"Are we ok?" Chloe asked Lois.

"I really don't like all the lying to me." Lois said. "And I'm not sure how I feel about you working with Oliver. But I get why you do it. And I appreciate the honesty."

Chloe smiled sheepishly. "While we're being completely honest with each other." Chloe sighed. "There's something else I have to tell you."

"Oh god." Lois said. "I don't know how much more I can take of this." Lois sat down in one of the chairs and Chloe smiled nervously.

"Lois I…" Chloe closed her mouth. She was never sure how she was going to tell anyone this. "Maybe I should just show you."

"Did you get a tattoo?" Lois asked. "Cause the General is going to kill you."

"If I got a tattoo and I showed you." Chloe glared at her. "You would not tell your dad." Lois smiled at her and Chloe held out her hand. "Give me your hand."

Lois held out her hand and Chloe removed the bandage that she's put on it from where she got cut by the glass. Chloe held her palm over the cut and Lois watched it start to glow. "Whoa." She said looking down at her hand as Chloe removed hers and her eyes got even wider. "Whoa." She pulled her hand up to her face and stared as if she could find the cut if she looked close enough. "What happened?" She whispered.

Chloe held up her hand and Lois saw a cut that wasn't there before. "I guess you can't be around the meteors as long as I have without picking a few things up."

Lois stared at the cut for a minute and then looked up at Chloe. "Wait a minute." She jumped up out of her chair. "Wait a minute…" She stared at Chloe then looked down at her stomach and Chloe nodded. "I was stabbed." She said her voice breaking. "I was…dead, I know I was."

"You were." Chloe nodded, tears forming in her eyes.

"And you…" She looked at Chloe's stomach and Chloe nodded.

"Why would you…" Lois asked astonished.

"I didn't know." Chloe said. "That was the first time; I didn't do it on purpose." Lois looked at her. "I mean not that I wouldn't have, if I did know because I would have, but I was just as surprised as you." Chloe smiled, feeling so much better now that Lois knew, and even better that she didn't run from the house screaming that Chloe was a freak. They talked about everything they couldn't talk about before, Oliver's secret, Chloe's secret, Chloe and Oliver's mission.

"Hey." Chloe said as Lois was getting ready to leave, her and Oliver had just as much to talk about as her and Chloe had. "Don't be too hard on the guy right?" Lois nodded sadly as she left the farm and Chloe took the fact that she was alone as an opportunity to go through the info she'd gotten from Lex. A few hours later, she got a teary call from Lois telling her that she'd talked with Oliver and they were truly and honestly over and Chloe's heart broke a little, first Grant and now this. Chloe offered to come over with ice cream but Lois said she'd rather be alone.

When Chloe noticed the time she closed her computer and headed back to the city. She took a last minute detour to the Clock Tower to check up on Oliver and found him staring out at the city, the place still littered with glass. "Hey." She stepped out of the elevator, her shoes cracking as she stepped on the glass.

He turned around and smiled sadly. "Hey." He said before turning back to the view.

Chloe joined him on the balcony. "Lois called, she said you two talked?"

"Yeah." He chuckled. "I knew it wasn't going to work out, I just…" He sighed and leaned against the balcony. "I guess I thought if there was any girl out there who could handle me, my other life, it would be Lois, because she's strong you know?"

"Yeah." Chloe sighed.

"And she can handle it, she's ok with it, she's just not ok with sharing me."

"She grew up competing with Lucy and the United States government for the Generals love." Chloe reminded him. "I guess she didn't want to do that again."

"I understand." Oliver said.

"Doesn't make it hurt any less." Chloe offered.

"No it doesn't." He admitted.

They stood there for a while just staring out at the city until Chloe went back inside and started sweeping up the glass, Oliver followed her a few minutes later and by the time they had it all picked up he seemed to be in higher spirits. "I've got some good news." Chloe said pulling two beers from his fridge and handing one to him as they sat on the couch.

"What's that?" He asked leaning his head back and closing his eyes.

"You'll never believe all the stuff I got from Lex about Cassandra."

Oliver tilted his head to look at her and opened one eye smiling. "What would I do without you Watchtower?"

"I don't know." Chloe sighed. "Probably amble around in the dark and cut yourself on glass you couldn't be bothered to clean up."

He smiled again and sipped his beer. "Probably." He said. "And then I wouldn't even have you to heal the cuts."

"You'd be dead in two days." Chloe joked with him.

"You're probably right." Oliver smiled at her. "I'm so glad I don't have to worry about that."

"I'm not going anywhere." She assured him, knowing that it was a given but also that after what happened with Lois, he really needed to hear it.

"Well I'm going to bed. My plane leaves tomorrow morning at eight." He stood up and headed for the stairs.

"I'm tired too." Chloe set her beer on the table. "I'll call you later ok." She looked at him and reached forward, giving him a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"Ok." He nodded at her before going up to the bedroom as Chloe let herself out of the elevator.


	5. Chapter 5

* * *

By the time she got back to England the following day she wanted nothing more than to sleep for a week but those plans were interrupted by an announcement that Edward made at diner. "You'll be starting work on Monday." He said seemingly out of nowhere.

"Work?" Chloe looked up at him confused.

"I can hardly expect you to take over the company if you don't learn how to run it can I?" He asked her raising an eyebrow.

"Right." Chloe nodded sheepishly, she'd gotten so used to, well, doing nothing for the past year it took her a minute to wrap her head around work. But the more she thought about it, the more it excited her.

Unfortunately the more excited she got about it, the more disappointed she was when her first day of work consisted of the beginning of her six month crash course in business school. She learned how to run the daily operations of the business by basically shadowing Edward everywhere while his close friend and financial advisor, Tony Miller, gave Chloe a play by play on everything he did. She learned how to set up buys, how to create and understand quarterly reports, how to solve the day by day problems that Edward was faced with. She put in twelve, sometimes sixteen hours a day at work and was still expected to attend functions and parties at night. On top of all of that was her work with Oliver, the more information they got about Project Cassandra, it seemed the less they actually knew, this was something big, like 33.1, not just a passing fancy for Lex and that meant extra hours, extra missions, extra information to go through. Chloe was exhausted.

Rose, Lily, and Abby thought it was great that she was working. They found the whole idea novel and wanted to know everything she did, how she did it, and why she did it. Somehow, seemingly out of nowhere, piled onto her work with her Uncle, her social obligations, and her work with Oliver she started dating. She wasn't even sure how it happened as exhausted as she was; it was two months into the relationship before she even knew it was a relationship. It was strange and nice all at the same time and much different than she was used to.

It started out slowly. She'd been introduced to Spencer Caulfield, heir to one of the largest oil fortunes in the world when she first came to England. He was pretty good friends with Abby, Lily and Rose. Since their initial meeting they'd bumped into each other at various parties or events but lately he'd been spending a lot of time just hanging out with them. Lily had declared that she spent too much time with girls and they needed to broaden their circle and that's where Spencer and his friends came in, Dale and Jason. From the outside they looked glamorous and untouchable, so far above Chloe and the guys she'd known all her life. They had lots of money, fancy cars, charm that seemed to be inherited with the money and she was sure she would never fit in. But once they started to hang out more she couldn't help notice the parallels they seemed to share with normal guys. Watching them play Halo reminded her of her guys back in Star City, chilling out and relaxing with each other at Oliver's. They watched the same stupid movies that Bart and Victor watched, the same video games, they just had more money.

She always gravitated toward Spencer for some reason. He was the only one of his friends who actually worked for a living, as was she with her friends. He had more to talk about than trips to Italy, extravagant shopping sprees, or topless beaches, a favorite topic of Dale and Jason, who were trying desperately to convince that Rose and Lily had to visit one with them. He talked about politics, and business, and could understand how Chloe felt when she worried she wouldn't live up to Edwards's standard as far as the company was concerned because he had the same fears with his father, Martin Caulfield, Oil Tycoon. He knew what it was like, being the one in the office that everyone knew was only there because Daddy, or in her case, Uncle owned the place, and the urge to prove yourself to the ones who were rooting for you to fail. He had the added pressure that Chloe did not, that of the fact that he hated his job. He didn't want to work in Oil, he was a tech guy, and he said his dream was to be a more handsome Steve Jobs, run a company like Apple. Only Martin wouldn't hear of it and forced him to stay at a job he hated, with people who hated him.

At some point it stopped being a group hang out and started being a couple hang out. Chloe would go to Spencer's after a long day of work and they would order in and watch movies, or when they'd both had a light day, go out to eat somewhere. Then they were calling each other every day, meeting for lunch, and then meeting for dinner. Chloe found herself heading to the office from Spencer's apartment more than Edwards house but they were still just friends. Or so she thought until one night after dinner, they were walking back home admiring the clear night which gave them a view of the stars and he kissed her. She didn't hesitate in kissing him back and suddenly they were dating.

They went out every night; they went to the country on the weekends. Abby complained that she never saw Chloe anymore and Oliver noticed a serious decline in communication, often commenting on it but never really asking about it.

As Chloe took on more and more responsibility at work, and Spencer did the same, they even started seeing less of each other. Then one day Elizabeth, who had quickly advanced from personal maid to personal assistant when Chloe started working for Edward, walked into Chloe's office to give her the weekly reports smiled sheepishly. "I just received a call from Mr. Caulfield." She said carefully. "He requested I clear your schedule for the rest of the week and the weekend."

"He did huh?" Chloe said suspiciously and called him. "What's this about clearing my schedule?" Chloe asked smiling.

"You've been working too hard, we've both been working too hard, I figured we deserved a vacation. So pack your bag, we're going to the beach." She smiled, ready for a nice quiet weekend at his cottage, she would do some sun bathing, and he would do some surfing.

Her Uncle was more than happy to let her go, claiming that she'd been working far too hard and when Spencer picked her up she was more than ready for a quiet weekend away. Only he didn't drive to the beach, he drove to Heathrow. "I'm confused." Chloe said looking at the airport. "I thought we were going to the beach."

"We are." Spencer grabbed her bags and led her out to his jet waiting on the tarmac.

What beach?" Chloe asked climbing the steps to his jet and getting settled in.

"It's a surprise." He smiled and grabbed her hand. "You should get some sleep, it's a long flight."

He wasn't kidding, four hours later she woke up and they were still in the air. Four hours after that, still no decent plans in the works. "Are we going to Mars?" Chloe joked with him as she took her laptop out to get some work done.

"No, work." He slammed the computer shut. "That's a rule here."

"There are rules to this trip?" Chloe smiled at him.

"No phone, no work, no computer, no internet. Just you and me and the beach." He kissed her and she sighed.

"Can I still have coffee?" She asked.

"Do you think I'm crazy?" Spencer laughed at her.

"Well so long as we're on the same page." Three hours later they landed in Singapore. No beach but still a beautiful city, not that Chloe got to enjoy it as they simply refueled the plane, at some food and stretched their legs before setting off again. At some point Chloe fell asleep and woke up when they were landing.

"Are we here?" She asked looking out the window, unable to distinguish "here" as anywhere in particular because all she could see was the runway.

"Yes, we're here." Spencer grabbed their bags and they descended the steps. A driver was waiting for them and he held Chloe's door open and smiled at her.

"Welcome to Australia." He ushered her in the car and she turned to Spencer smiling.

"We're in Australia?"

"Some of the best beaches in the world." He told her. "Quiet, serene, and private."

After a forty minute car ride and then a twenty minute ferry ride they arrived at an island off the coast of Perth were Spencer had a condo right on the beach. They settled in, went to the beach, got some food and tried to adjust to the time zone. Surprisingly Chloe managed to relax, she forgot about work, she forgot about everything and just enjoyed being there.

Their second night there she woke up to a shrill ringing and Chloe's hand slapped around the nightstand for a minute before she realized her phone was still in her jeans pocket. She leaned over the side of the bed, wanting nothing more than to stop the high pitched noise and go back to bed. She leaned over to far and fell out of the bed onto her jeans. She dug her phone out and flipped it open. "What?"

"That's not very polite." Oliver's said.

"I was sleeping." Chloe yawned rubbing her eyes and brushed the hair out of her face as she sat on the floor next to the bed.

"It's five o'clock in London." Oliver pointed out.

"Yeah, well I'm not in London." Chloe said. "I'm in Australia, and it's four in the morning here."

"Since when?" He asked confused.

"Since yesterday." Chloe pulled herself up and stretched. "It was a last minute trip."

"Who is it?" A voice said from the bed behind Chloe. A male voice.

"Abby." Chloe said quietly. "I forgot to tell her we went away."

"Who is that?" Oliver asked with a strange tone in his voice. "Who is we?"

"Abby can I call you tomorrow?" Chloe stressed the tomorrow part of that.

"No." Spencer sat up and pulled the phone from Chloe's hands. "Abby, Chloe is on vacation, a vacation that I had to trick her into and that she so desperately needs. She'll talk to you in two days, until then she's in communicado, pass it on." He hung up the phone and Chloe smiled sheepishly. "Come back to bed." He patted the mattress next to him and Chloe climbed in going back to sleep.

The next morning she woke up to an empty bed, Spencer was probably out surfing. She grabbed her phone and walked out on the balcony. Chloe nodded as the maid set her breakfast on the table and she dialed a number on her phone. "Hey." She said when Oliver answered. "I wanted to apologize about last night."

"I didn't mean to interrupt…whatever it was I interrupted." Oliver said.

"Sorry about Spencer." Chloe smiled watching him surf from the balcony.

"Spencer?" Oliver snorted. "Spencer Caulfield?" He had wondered who she was with, and why she would take off to Australia without even telling her, but Spencer Caulfield he was not prepared for.

"Yeah." Chloe furrowed her brow.

"Is that who you've been spending all your time with?" Oliver asked.

"I haven't been spending all my time with him." Chloe countered.

"Really?" Oliver said. "I haven't talked to you in a week and half."

I've been busy with work." Chloe said getting annoyed. "Not to mention all this stuff you keep piling on me from Lex."

"All that stuff, is important." Oliver said. "More important that spending time with your little boyfriend." He regretted it as soon as it was out of his mouth; he wasn't even sure why he was suddenly so angry with her. "You and Clark both, it's like you don't understand how important this work is."

"Excuse me?" Chloe screamed. "You think I don't know how important this is? I gave up my life for this, for you. And do you know why I did that?" Chloe couldn't control her anger anymore. "Because I, unlike you, have been in one of those labs, I've had Lex experiment on me, implant something in me that would have killed me, I've had him take my mother to get to me. I know how important this is Oliver, but I can't let it consume my life, I won't. I've been working 20 hours a day, 7 days a week, for the past eight months, between Edward and you and if I want to go to fucking Australia I will." She wished that she could do more than just push a button to hang up on him. Slamming a phone down has more of a finality to it, more impact.

"Hey." Spencer said from the doorway to the balcony as she paced and cursed Oliver under her breath. "You ok?"

She turned to him surprised and smiled. "Fine." She shook off her conversation with Oliver and walked over to kiss him. "Nothing to worry about."

He saw her phone on the table and raised his eyebrows. "I said no phone." He reminded her.

"I know, I swear, rest of the trip, no phone." She promised him and she delivered. She didn't call Oliver back and he didn't call her back. Two weeks went by and she knew that she'd have to talk to him at some point. Her anger faded, she understood where he was coming from but she had to have a life too and he needed to understand that. But mostly she realized that she missed talking with him. Even though they hadn't really been calling each other a lot the past couple of months, the option was always there, she could pick up the phone day or night and know that Oliver would answer, and they would talk and he would, somehow calm her down. But now that was gone. When she had a good day at work, she found herself starting to call Oliver only to stop, start to call Spencer and realize he wasn't who she wanted to talk to and end up not calling anyone.

It didn't help that Spencer was becoming more and more distant with her. His relationship with his father was strained at the best of times but they seemed to be arguing more and more and he was generally in such a foul mood lately that they weren't hanging out as much. Abby was happy to have Chloe back but noticed right away that something was off about her.

"Spencer and his dad go through this like once every two years. He'll get over it and be back to normal in no time." Abby said one day when she caught Chloe staring at her phone.

"Huh?" Chloe looked at her confused. "Right." She shook her head. "I know. So where are we going tonight?" Chloe quickly changed the subject.

But he didn't get over it, if anything it got worse and worse until it all came to a head one day when Spencer showed up at her office looking excited and exhausted. "Can I take you to lunch?" He asked and she smiled and wondered the whole way to the restaurant how she was going to break up with him, something she'd been planning for a few weeks. She waited this long because she wanted to be sure that she was doing this for her, doing this because her and Spencer just didn't seem on the same wavelength anymore and not because of Oliver.

Surprisingly she didn't have to worry about it because he got there first. "I'm moving to the States." He said before Chloe had a chance to even scan the menu.

"What?" She asked staring at him confused.

"I quit." He started to get less exhausted and more excited with every word. "Today, I told him that I didn't want to work for him anymore and I was starting my own business."

"You are?" Chloe asked.

"My dream business, a tech business." He paused while they ordered lunch and then started right back up when the waitress left. "There's this group of guys working on this program at MIT, its genus, it's gonna be the next big thing." He explained this program to her, how it combined the best of every internet trend out there, MySpace, Face Book, and file sharing with an easily adaptable interface and tons of other features that even the tech geek in Chloe couldn't follow. "They need backing, and I need something to back." He finished up.

"Sound like a match made in heaven." Chloe smiled at him, genuinely happy that he was happy.

"I'm not expecting a long distance thing." Spencer told her. "We haven't really clicked lately, we've drifted apart."

"I know." Chloe apologized. "I was thinking the same thing actually."

"Plus I'll be in the states working on a start up, which is going to take up all my time and you'll be here working for Edward and doing whatever that other thing is you do that takes up so much time." He smiled ruefully at her.

Chloe opened her mouth surprised that he knew she had another thing that took up her time. "I was a good boyfriend, I paid attention." He boasted.

"I'm sorry." Chloe blushed. "I tried not to let it interfere…"

"I didn't." He assured her. "Trust me that had nothing to do with this. We're just going in different directions."

"So." Chloe smiled, as a weight was lifted off her shoulders. "Tell me more about these guys at MIT."

They ate their lunch amicably, Spencer getting more and more animated as he talked about his start up and Chloe finally feeling like something had gone right. Martin was pretty upset about the whole thing, had declared it doomed for failure in six months and that Spencer would come crawling back, tail between his legs when he'd run out of money but Chloe was sure he would make it work, if only to prove Martin wrong. He left within the week and Chloe suddenly felt very alone. Spencer was gone, Oliver wasn't talking to her, Abby tried to cheer her up, keep her mind off of Spencer, because that's what she assumed Chloe was upset about.

"Wait we can't go to Valerie's thing tomorrow, Dale's birthday is tomorrow." Chloe said walking in the sitting room after a long day of work, she was hoping for a quiet weekend but so far things weren't going in her favor. Abby was keeping her as busy as she could so she could keep her mind off Spencer but it was just driving Chloe to exhaustion.

"Well I'm not the one who promised Valerie we'd go." Abby pointed out.

"Well we can tell her we're going to Wes' and leave early." Chloe said.

"Won't she know we're lying when we don't show up at Wes?" Abby asked.

She doesn't go to Wes' anymore; remember ever since he cheated on her with Julia."

"Right." Abby smiled. "So wait, we aren't really going to Wes' are we? I hate Wes."

"We'll go to Dale's thing for a while and then come back here, beg Raymond to make that Strawberry Rhubarb ice cream and watch a movie."

"Sounds like a plan." Abby said. "Call me."

"Later." Chloe hung up the phone and started to type something in as she sat down on her chair.

"You've got a busy schedule." A voice made her jump in the air and she looked up to see Oliver sitting at the desk in the back of the room. "No wonder you haven't called me in a month."

"Month and a half." Chloe said before she could stop herself. They just stared at each other for a minute, neither one saying anything until they both blurted out, "I'm sorry."

Chloe smiled and her shoulders relaxed. "I'm sorry for saying those things I said." Oliver stood up. "I know you know how important this is, you gave up the most for this mission, you were hurt by Lex as much as anyone. You didn't deserve what I said to you."

"I'm sorry." Chloe stood up. "I shouldn't have snapped at you. I was just a little strung out, I didn't feel like I had any control over my life and I…snapped." She paused for a minute and then continued. "Spencer and I broke up, but I want you to know that it wasn't because of you, I'm going to have a life to live, that's a part of your plan you might not have realized but it's going to happen."

"I know." Oliver assured her. "I don't expect you to…I shouldn't have said those things."

They just stared again until Chloe walked over and hugged him. "I missed you." She whispered.

"I missed you too." Oliver assured her.

"Look," Chloe grabbed his hand and led him over to the couch, pulling him down. "I don't know when this happened, I don't…you see when I started this whole thing I never thought…"

"Chloe?" Oliver asked and she looked up at him. "Are you about to profess your undying love for me?"

"No." She rolled her eyes.

"Then spit it out." Oliver laughed at her.

"You've become my best friend." She told him. "I didn't realize until I couldn't call you, how much I wanted to call you. I didn't ever think that Oliver Queen could be that guy you know, but you are and I hated it that we fought, I hated it that I couldn't call and tell you what Sarah did at the office, that I couldn't call and laugh with you about Lily's new speed dating trip. I hated it."

He smiled at her shook his head. "Hey that was the plan right?" Oliver said. "Oliver Queen, Chloe Sullivan, BFF?" Chloe glared at him and he laughed. "You're my best friend too." He told her. "Which is really strange for me because I've never had a best friend before, ever, add to it that you're my ex girlfriend's cousin." He whistled. "It's a little surreal to me. But come on Chloe, you know my biggest secret and you don't care, and I can trust you with that. Of course you're my best friend." She blushed a little.

"And I hated that we were fighting too." He motioned around the room. "I mean I flew all the way to England just to apologize because Victor and AC said they were gonna kick me out of my own house if I didn't say I was sorry for the horrible way I treated you." Chloe laughed. "Plus I think they got kind of annoyed with me telling them all the stuff I would normally tell you."

"Ok." Chloe said. "So now we've had our Gilmore Girls heart wrenching moment can we just put it behind us?"

"I would like that more than anything." Oliver sighed in relief. "But first could you tell Victor I apologized? He said he'd only believe it if it came from your mouth."

"I don't know." Chloe looked at him smiling. "What happens if I don't?"

"To you nothing." Oliver said shaking his head sadly. "To me, well just think of how miserable three guys with superpowers could make my life if they wanted." Chloe laughed.

"Ok, I'll call him."

"No need." A voice said from behind her and she turned around surprised and ran to hug Victor who was leaning against the door.

"What are you doing here?" She pulled back and he smiled.

"We were insurance." AC said from the other side of Victor and she rushed to hug him too. "In case you didn't accept his apology."

"Where's Bart?" She looked around the room.

"Right here." He speeded in the room and landed perfectly next to her with his hand around her shoulder. "This place is massive, seriously, I don't even think I went everywhere."

"Bart you can do a super speed tour around here, we have cameras everywhere." Chloe scolded him.

"No camera can catch me." He puffed up his chest.

"No, but they managed to get a shot of your massive ego." Oliver pointed out.

"How long are you guys staying?" Chloe asked excitedly.

"The weekend." Oliver said.

"I'll clear my plans." Chloe smiled. "We'll have a great time." She jumped up. "I'm so glad you guys are here, I've missed you so much." She walked to the doorway. "I'll have Jeeves show you to your rooms and then I'll order something for dinner, no fish for AC…" She was mumbling to herself as she walked out of the room leaving the guys alone.

She called Abby and explained some friends from back home had come to visit and bowed out of all weekend activities. It took some time but she managed to convince Abby she really had friends over and that she wasn't sitting at home with a gallon of ice cream, drowning her sorrow over Spencer. She eventually had to put Victor on the phone as proof that there were actual people there with her before Abby would let the whole thing go.

That weekend, hanging out at Edward's with the guys reminded her of what it felt like to be part of the team, to be part of the little family they'd started and renewed her spirit as far as the mission went. She was sad to see them go, but grateful that she had that time with them.

* * *

Things in her life were just getting back to normal, going to work, hanging out with her friends, talking to Oliver every day, when during dinner one night, Edward threw another wrench in everything and it all turned upside down. "I'm sorry could you repeat that please?" Chloe set her fork down and stared at Edward as if he'd grown an extra head.

"Starting Monday you're taking over Posh." Edward repeated. Posh was one of the many magazine's that Edward owned, it was sort of the equivalent of Vogue in the US, or it would be if anyone bothered to read it.

"What do you mean, taking over?" Chloe asked.

"You'll be the new Editor." He said.

"You can't just make me the Editor…" Chloe gaped at him.

"I've taught you the boardroom side of this business, now you need to learn the bread and butter." He explained to her. "We'll start with the magazines, since you're quite well versed with the newspapers."

"But Posh has and editor." Chloe pointed out.

"Not anymore, he quit." Edward said.

"Surely the assistant editor or someone else on staff…" Chloe tried to find anyone else to do this job.

"They're all idiots." Edward waved her off. "The whole thing is failing, it's a sinking ship."

"So why are you putting me in charge of it?"

"Because if you mess up, no one will care." He said. "And you need to learn the business."

"Those people are going to hate me." Chloe said. "I'm coming in out of nowhere to run a magazine they've been working on for years."

"They're not going hate you, hell they should thank you. I was just going to shut it down, but I thought it would be a good learning experience for you." He told her. "If anything you saved their jobs for a while."

"Well, tell them that would you." Chloe mumbled.

And he did. Monday he walked into the Posh office with Chloe, introduced her as the new Editor in Chief and then informed everyone that they had three months to turn the magazine around or he was scrapping the whole thing.

"Three months Oliver." Chloe said later that day, feeling that they'd had this conversation before. "That's all he's giving me, three months to turn the worst magazine in England around."

"He's not really expecting you to save the magazine Chloe, he just wants you to get your feet wet." Oliver explained to her.

"Well I'm just supposed to let it fail?" She asked.

"No I suppose not." Oliver sighed, she'd obviously made up her mind about this whole thing, and once Chloe made up her mind there was no way to stop it. "So do you have a plan?"

"A plan?" Chloe asked. "I've got a plan, well the start of a plan."

"Let's hear it."

Well, I know that I need a plan." She said definitively.

Oliver laughed. "You'll figure something out." He said. "I know you will."

"While your faith in me seems to be endless, no one else's is. They walked out."

"What do you mean?" Oliver asked confused.

"My staff, well upper level staff anyway, the guys I needed to run this thing. They decided to cut their losses and walk. I've got no Managing Editor, Senior Editors, Associate Editors, Assistant Editors, and Editorial Assistants, and half of my staff writers left too."

"Oh." Oliver said. "That doesn't sound good."

"It's not." Chloe informed him. "I have an office full of assistants and interns with a skeleton copy department."

"You'll figure this out, just hire more people." Oliver said.

"Who?" Chloe said. "I don't know this world? And all the good ones will have jobs."

"So give the staff you have a chance. Those interns were there to learn, make them step up to the plate. Those assistants probably all know what their bosses were doing like the back of their hands…you'll make it work." Oliver said and Chloe took a deep breath.

"That's not a bad idea." Chloe said.

"That really sucks, you know." Bart said from nowhere, "Sorry about your magazine walking out or whatever, but I'm sitting here trying not to get caught, it would be nice if someone told me where to go."

"Sorry." Chloe blushed and looked at her monitor. "The Records room should be fifty yards to your left."

"Thanks." Bart said and Chloe had to bite back her laughter, all though she could hear AC and Victor chuckling over the coms.

She went into Posh the next day, with far more confidence than she felt, and three secret weapons. She'd called Abby, Lily, and Rose after she'd finished her Justice League work with Oliver. "So you guys have always wanted to know what it was like to work right?"

"Yeah." Abby said cautiously.

"Have I got a job for you." Chloe explained her predicament at Posh, a magazine that Lily used to read before it became rubbish, and they seemed a little excited about the whole thing.

"You mean we'll get to tell people what's in and what's not?" Rose asked. "This is like the perfect job for us."

"Sounds like it could be fun." Abby said.

"Would we get paid?" Lily asked. "Cause I think it would be so cute to get a paycheck."

After working out what Chloe expected of them they agreed to meet her at the office in the morning and start their very first jobs. "Ok." Chloe addressed the board room of anxious people, staring at her to solve all their problems. "So we're a little short staffed." She looked around and cringed, a few more people had left since yesterday. "And we've got what seems like an impossible timeline here but actually if you think about it, that's a good thing." They stared back at her confused. "We've all ready been given a death sentence; we've got nothing to lose." A few people seemed to catch on to what she was saying. "This couldn't be more perfect." She was getting herself a little pumped up. "I've got more than capable interns here; this is what you're doing here right? You wanted to learn this business, wanted to get a foot in the door, well here's your chance. And you guys…" she turned to the assistants, who she was sure only stayed because three months of a steady paycheck was better than no paycheck. "You were the ones who kept your bosses on task, you knew what they were doing better than they did I'm sure. You guys can do this, we can do this, or we're sure as hell gonna try, so what do you say?" She looked around the room. "Are you with me?" No one moved, no one clapped, and there was no sudden burst of excitement, surge of assuredness. "Come on, the speech wasn't that bad."

"Well it was no Saint Crispin's Day speech." A girl said from the corner.

"Ha!" Chloe smiled. "Shakespeare reference in casual conversation how would you like to be the new head of the Culture section?"

The girl's eyes widened and she could only nod as Chloe smiled. "Anyone a big music fan? You with the headphones." She pointed to a guy who was barely paying attention and someone elbowed him. He pulled his iPod out and turned it off sheepishly. "How many songs you got on there?"

"Close to fifty thousand." He said sheepishly.

"Wow." Chloe said astonished. "Good, you're the new head of the Music section. Come on guys, jobs are up for grabs here, step up. What are you passionate about?"

"I really like movies." A girl raised her hand in the back.

"Head of Entertainment." Chloe clapped.

"I'm sort of a tech junkie." Another guy said.

"Head of the Gadgets department." Chloe said.

"Gadgets?" He asked smiling.

"I don't know, name it whatever you want. This is good."

"We'll do fashion." Abby said and Rose and Lily nodded.

"Awesome." Chloe smiled. By the time the meeting was over she had promoted practically everyone there to a much higher position than they held the day before. When the Department heads were all chosen she started assigning them teams and then sent them on their way to brainstorm subjects for the next issue. "I need the assistant Features Editor and Photography Head to stay behind." Chloe called as everyone left to go set up their work stations.

Two girls stood awkwardly in the doorway as Chloe walked up to them. "I'm gonna need a list of all free lance writers and photographers we've used in the past and hopefully they'll still want to work with us."

"Right away." They nodded at her and walked out of the room.

"That was fun." Lily said. "How about we do lunch? This is my first lunch break." She said excitedly and Chloe could only last.

Two weeks, four miracles, and countless IOU's later Chloe sent the final copy to the printers and turned to Rose, Lily, and Abby who were lounged in varying states of exhaustion in her office. "We did it."

"Now we just have to get people to read it." Abby pointed out.

"Oh they're gonna read it." Lily said pulling herself up to look at everyone. "I put in far too much work for people not to read it."

"But no one knows that." Rose pointed out.

"So let's tell them." Chloe looked up excitedly.

"What?" Abby asked.

"Let's have a launch party. The New and Improved Posh." She said.

"You're gonna waist money on a party for a magazine that will be gone in three months?" Abby asked.

"Well it won't be gone if we can get people to read it, and if we have this party, we can get people to read it, and if people read it, then we'll get the funding and the party will pay for itself." Chloe said.

"I do love a party." Lily bit her lip.

"The issue comes out in a week." Rose reminded them.

"We've planned bigger things than this in hours." Chloe pointed out.

"That's true." Abby sighed. "Ok, I'm in." She seemed excited. "Besides, I haven't gone to a single party or club since I started working here, I deserve to let off a little steam."

Abby out did herself with party planning; she found a venue, a caterer, and entertainment on very short notice. Lily and Rose did their fare share too, they got all the advertisers to send in tons of free stuff for gift bags and spread the word to half of England before the end of the week. Chloe worked on the press side of it, getting all the papers that Edward owned and any others that were interested to cover the party, she started to think that they could actually pull it off. The party was packed, the people were there, the press was there and Edward even showed up. "I don't know how you pulled this off." He said, surveying the room full of people and the display of her first issue, free copy for every quest included in the gift bag. "But you did."

"I did didn't I?" Chloe smiled.

"You know, I underestimated you." He smiled at her. "I thought you would coast through three months, learning what you could but you stepped up to the plate."

"That's me; I'm a plate stepper…upper." She laughed.

"I'm proud of you." Edward kissed her cheek and Chloe felt so good about herself in that moment, she almost started crying. "Now we just have to see if people will read it." She lost her smile for a minute but shook it off, trying to feel more confident than she was.

"They will." She assured him.

Abby, Lily, and Rose had the time of their life, celebrating something they'd accomplished felt so much better than just celebrating. "Hey, why aren't you dancing?" Abby and the girls had come over to Chloe's corner, where she was hiding herself, relaxing, to persuade her to join them on the dance floor.

"I will I promise." She said.

"You're not nervous are you?" Lily laughed. "There's no way people don't go out tomorrow and buy this thing."

"I'm not nervous." Chloe said. "I'm just taking it all in."

"Miss Sullivan?" A waiter walked over. "A gentleman asked me to deliver this to you." He handed Chloe a very familiar green box with a green bow and she looked around the room, searching for the sender. "He was right over there…." The waiter said confused.

"It's ok, thanks." Chloe sat back down and opened the box. Inside on the cotton sat a small charm in the shape of a magazine.

"So this is where your charms come from." Rose took the box from her and flipped it over looking for a card or a signature or something. "Who keeps sending you these things?"

"Just a friend." Chloe smiled attaching the new charm to her bracelet and smiling. It had grown quite a bit since she first got it with its three charms. He'd given her the bow and arrow, and then came a lightning bolt for Bart, a dolphin for AC and a tiny robot for Victor.

"Come on, let's go dance." She got up and pulled Lily and Rose with her as they headed to the dance floor.

Chloe had no reason to be nervous; people read it, their numbers doubled almost overnight. Some people of the press were calling her a miracle worker; others were calling it a fluke, stating that the novelty would wear off and the numbers would go down again the next month. But they didn't, nor the month after. Chloe saved the magazine, which had every member of her former staff crawling back with their tail between their legs hoping for their jobs back. But Chloe had her staff. They called her crazy, keeping the interns and the assistants over established Editors and Department Heads and she felt no shame in reminding everyone that the established Editors were the ones who ran the magazine into the ground.

She stayed on with Posh for a few more months, until she was positive they could do it without her and appointed Hillary, former intern, then Features Editor the new Editor in chief and moved on to her next project. Rose and Lily stayed behind as head of the Fashion Department but Abby was pretty sure that magazines was not where her future lay and Chloe was just glad to have her help in the first place, she never expected any of them to stick around. Edward put her at another magazine that was having trouble and she managed to have the same success there, and at the next one, and then he moved her to newspapers, one after another until she was being touted to the world as the Publication Miracle worker.

Chloe hated it, Edward loved it. There was a rumor circulating around that he was the one who started it but Chloe chose not to believe it because if it was true, she was gonna have to kill him. "So where too next?" Chloe asked when she'd come home from her going away party at London Telegraph.

"Well, I think it's time." Edward said to her sadly.

"Time?" Chloe asked. "Time for what?"

"For you to leave." He said and her face fell. Edward just laughed. "England." He added on as if it were obvious. "Leave England. Your future lies in America."

"America?" Chloe swallowed. "Do you think I'm ready to go without you?"

"You've been without me for a while now." He told her.

"But I don't know enough yet." Chloe said. "I'm not ready."

"Nonsense." Edward waved away her protests. "You know more than enough. It's time we moved forward, me with my plans, you with yours, and Oliver's." Chloe nodded, Oliver's plan for her to move to the states, what they'd been working toward for over three years now.

"You really think I'm ready?" Chloe asked.

"I do." Edward smiled.

Chloe looked at the old man, he seemed to have aged more than she thought he should have in the three years she'd been here and she wondered what on earth she was going to do without him in her life. He'd somehow gone from a pompous jerk standing in a hotel room in New York City to a man that she loved like family. "I'm gonna miss you." She smiled at him.

He rolled his eyes at her. "No you won't." He laughed. "Who would miss an old man like me?"

"I would." Chloe grabbed his hand and smiled at him.

"Yeah well, it's not like you can just get rid of me." He informed her. "This is still my company, you'll still answer to me you know."

"I know." She smiled.

He stared at her for a minute before smiling. "I'm gonna miss you too." He told her and she ducked her head back to her plate before she started crying.

* * *

Moving to another country when you had money was a far different experience from when you didn't. She didn't have to pack anything; it was all done for her. Her apartment was rented in Gotham before she even knew that Gotham was her first stop. Edward had asked her to take a tour of all the newspapers he owned in the States before settling in at the home office in Star City to take over the whole American wing of the company. First stop was the Gotham Gazette and Chloe was actually a little excited. Coincidently, or for all she knew it could have been planned. Her first night there was the night of a party held by Wayne Enterprises President, Bruce Wayne. It was their annual summer party, not unlike the Garden Party that Edward threw every year.

Rose, Lily, and Abby insisted on coming with her, not only to attend the gala but to help her transition into her new place in a strange country. "I lived in America my whole life until three years ago." She pointed out to them as they got ready for Bruce's party.

"Three years is like a lifetime." Lily said from the bathroom. "You don't know what's changed."

Chloe rolled her eyes but kept her mouth shut, she knew that her friends were having a hard time accepting that she was living half way across the world and truth be told so was she. She was going to miss them just as much as they were going to miss her. One thing that she was excited about was the party. Parties weren't normally her thing, no matter how many her friends had dragged her to but this one was special. This one was the official meeting between Chloe Sullivan and Oliver Queen.

"You ready for this step?" Oliver asked her the night before.

"Moving back home, Heading up a company, or going to a party?" She asked teasing him.

"I mean moving onto phase three." He said.

"This is phase three?" Chloe asked confused. "Since when have there been phases to this plan? What was phase one and two?" He laughed at her and she softened. "You mean am I ready to publically become friends with my best friend? Yeah I think I can handle that." Chloe told him.

"Good." Oliver said. "The sooner we get this over with, the better."

"Geez." Chloe said. "You sure know how to flatter a girl Queen."

"You know what I meant." Oliver sighed.

"Tomorrow, Gotham City, party at Wayne Manor." She reminded him for the hundredth time.

"I'll be there with bells on." He laughed.

"Not literally right?" Chloe asked. "I mean you didn't add something to your Green Arrow costume did you?"

"Good night Chloe." Oliver hung up the phone and she smiled, anxious for the next day.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N This is the start of a two chapter Chloe/Bruce but you know it's not going to last so just let it be and enjoy the story. I know you're all itching for some Chlollie and trust me it'll happen.

"Chloe." Rose grabbed her arm and pulled her through the crowded garden. "There is someone here who is dying to meet you."

_Finally_ Chloe thought _Oliver_. Only when Rose stopped abruptly the familiar blonde head and bright smile was not what greeted her. "Ah so this is the infamous Chloe Sullivan."

"Chloe, I'd like you to meet tonight's host. Bruce Wayne."

"Nice to meet you." Chloe said recovering her disappointment and reaching out a hand to shake Bruce's.

"Thanks." He smiled. "Rose you're looking lovely as ever. And where is your sister tonight?"

"She's here somewhere." Rose waved a hand and practically shoved Chloe closer to Bruce. "Tell you what I'll go find her." Rose walked away and Chloe turned around confused.

"Well she's about as subtle as an elephant doing yoga." Bruce laughed and offered Chloe his arm.

"We're working on that." Chloe smiled and slipped her hand through his elbow, allowing him to take her where ever it was he was planning on taking her.

"I hear that you've relocated to the states." Bruce said.

"Sir Edward isn't as young as he used to be and the trips back and forth were taking a lot out of him. So I'm going to move to the home office here, try to help him out a little." Chloe said.

"That's in Star City right?" Bruce grabbed two glasses of champagne and handed one to Chloe. "So what are you doing in Gotham?" He smiled. "Unless you just stopped in for my party?"

"As much as I'm sure your poor ego needs another boost that is not the case." Bruce laughed a real throaty laugh and Chloe smiled. "I'm actually visiting a couple of our problem papers before I get settled in at Star City."

"I forgot Sir Edward owned the Gazette." Bruce said. "My parents were very involved with the paper." He told her. "Back when it was still locally owned."

Chloe nodded. Edward had come in a saved the Gazette from complete ruin about ten years ago but hadn't been able to put the time or the effort into fixing it up so it had been hanging on by a thread for a while now. "Yeah well according to my figures, people have forgotten the Gazette even exists." Chloe shrugged. "I'm probably looking at a complete overhaul."

"So you'll be here for a while then?" Bruce smiled. "Great, I was hoping I'd have the chance to get to know you better."

Chloe noticed a group of people staring at her and Bruce in a none to friendly way. She smiled and bowed away from him. "Well I've taken up enough of your time; there are so many more people here who you need to attend to."

"I have a feeling we'll be talking again real soon." Bruce smiled at her. "It was my pleasure Miss Sullivan." Bruce grabbed her hand and kissed her knuckles.

Chloe smiled and felt sure for some reason herself that this would not be the last she saw of Bruce Wayne. The party died down, Oliver never showed, and Chloe's anger was rising by the minute. She said her goodbyes to Bruce and her friends and walked to her car, trying to calm herself down enough to call Oliver and yell at him, in a reasonable way. Before she had the chance to dial his number her phone beeped with a text message. "I'm sorry." It said. Chloe glared at the phone, he could apologize all he wanted, it wasn't going to stop her from being angry. Her phone beeped again. "If I call will you answer?"

"No." She said out loud as she climbed in her car and the driver headed out to bring her home. She sighed and typed back yes and her phone rang as soon as she'd finished sending.

"Chloe I'm…" Oliver said before she said hello and she interrupted him.

"Don't apologize, just explain." She snapped.

He paused, gathering his thoughts, and reworking the speech he had planned. "There was a military coup in the Philippines."

"Don't give me that one, there was a coup, you think I'm going to fall for that." Chloe groaned.

"Seriously there was a coup." Oliver protested.

"Explain how a coup in the Philippines prevents you from coming to Bruce's party?" She asked impatiently.

"You know we've got that government contract for electronic mobile shield." He asked. She vaguely remembered him telling her about it, something Queen Industries was developing that would allow an area to be shielded from the effects of an EMP.

Yes." Chloe said still waiting for the explanation.

"We've got to present the finished prototype to the government next week and half of our components are imported from the Philippines."

"So the coup is going to halt all imports and exports for a while and you're going to be screwed." Chloe sighed. "Damn it. That's a really good excuse."

"I know." Oliver said.

"I can't be mad with an excuse like that." Chloe whined.

"You really can't." He laughed.

"I hate you." She sighed.

"No you don't." He reminded her.

"No I don't." She thought for a second. "So then when are we going to do this? The official meet?"

"I'm going to be swamped with this thing for a while so I guess we'll just wing it." Oliver said. "Look I am really sorry, but I have to go…"

"It's ok." Chloe yawned. "Go deal with the Philippines."

"Night." Oliver hung up and Chloe groaned at the amount of work she knew awaited her at the Gazette in the morning.

* * *

"Mister Wayne." Janet's voice came over the intercom system a few days later. "There is a Chloe Sullivan here to see you. She doesn't have an appointment…" Bruce stopped his golf swing in mid stroke and picked the golf stuff up and tossed it behind his desk. 

"It's ok." Bruce said quickly punching the intercom button. "Send her in."

He leaned back in his seat and smiled then quickly grabbed whatever file was on his desk and opened it, pretending to be reading as she walked in the door. "Chloe." He stood up and dropped the file then grabbed her hand across the desk smiling at her. "To what do I owe this unexpected pleasure?"

"Actually." She motioned to the chair and Bruce nodded as she sat down and he followed. "I was hoping we could talk business."

"Business?" Bruce's smile faltered a little but he recovered quickly.

"Yes I have a proposition for you." Chloe said smiling.

"Well." Bruce stood up. "I think that can be arranged. Do you like Italian?"

"I'm sorry?" Chloe said as Bruce slipped his jacket on.

"Italian food." He said. "Or are you more for French Cuisine?"

"Food?" Chloe asked again standing up.

"I thought." Bruce grabbed her hand and steered her toward the door. "I'd take you out to lunch, show you some of Gotham, talk a little business, what do you say?"

"Italian sounds fine." Chloe smiled at him.

"Janet, hold my calls, I might be out for the rest of the day." Bruce smiled.

"God you're just so sure of yourself aren't you?" Chloe laughed.

"Always." Bruce said.

"Janet, he'll be back by two at the latest." Chloe said over her shoulder and Janet stifled a laugh as Bruce led her to the elevator. When they got to the lobby Chloe turned to move in the direction of the parking garage and Bruce grabbed her arm.

"It's not far, we'll walk." He smiled at her. She slipped her arm in the crook of his elbow and allowed him to lead her yet again down the street. They walked for a minute or so, Bruce pointing out different buildings and giving her a short history of them until he stopped abruptly at a street vendor.

"Two slices." He said reaching in his pocket for money. "And two bottled waters."

Chloe looked up smiling at the cart, pizza and Bruce stole a glance at her from the corner of his eye. "Italian?"

"What's more Italian than pizza?" He asked smiling at the vendor. "I'll take a sausage and the lady will have…he looked Chloe up and down and smirked. "Vegetarian?"

"Double meat." Chloe said to the vendor. "And slap some hot peppers on three." Chloe smiled taking the two bottled waters held out to her. Bruce looked over at her and smiled.

"You know what; I'll have what she's having." He passed over a twenty and grabbed the slices telling the man to keep the change and nodded for Chloe to follow him. He led her into a park and they found a bench, Chloe swapping one of the waters for one of the slices and they ate for a while in silence.

"This is beautiful." Chloe looked around the park, it was like a small city, and it reminded her of the plazas in Central America. There were street vendors and entertainers but at the same time it was clean and quiet and if you looked at the trees and the flowers it reminded Chloe of her secret clearing back home in London.

"I thought you'd like it." Bruce smiled. "So tell me about this business proposal." He took a sip of water and Chloe smiled grabbing a napkin and cleaning the sauce off of his chin. He smiled back at her and she set her slice of pizza down and swallowed.

"I want you to buy the paper." Chloe said.

This Bruce was not ready for he stared at her for a minute and then shook his head laughing. "Come again?"

"I want you to buy the paper." She wiped her mouth and took a sip of water staring at him, waiting for him to say something.

"You want me to buy a dying paper?" Bruce asked.

"No I want you to buy a highly distinguished, very profitable paper." Chloe said.

"Oh." Bruce smiled at her. "That's completely different. Where can I get one of those?"

Chloe glared at him and sighed. "I'm talking about the Gazette."

"You can't be." Bruce said. "Because from what I hear you are a very smart business woman with a good head on her shoulders and this…is bad business."

"Just hear me out." Chloe said and Bruce nodded.

"I am revamping the whole paper. Half of my staff is on mob payroll the other half is to incompetent to work a copy machine much less investigate anything. I've spent the better part of the last two weeks going through the issues from the past couple of years and we aren't reporting anything. There are no corrupt politicians, no dirty deals; no organized crime as far as the Gazette is concerned. But this is Gotham."

"We've got all that and more." Bruce nodded.

"Gotham is a great town." Chloe said. "A melting pot of culture and diversity and once it gets back on its feet it will most likely be one of the greatest Metropolitan cities in history." Bruce smiled at her because that's the way he'd always felt about Gotham. "But let's be honest here Bruce. You've got problems now, a lot of problems. This city is a reporters dream. You can't throw a cat without hitting some kind of story here." Bruce smiled. "And part of the problem is the people don't care. They don't care because they don't know. They don't know that more than half of the money allotted to school district to repair and improve inner city schools has been lining pockets for more than two years now. If they knew, maybe they'd do something about it." Bruce smiled at the look on her face, she seemed to get more and more animated as she talked. "And the people don't know that city planning commission is using ten different dummy companies to allocate city jobs to, but it's all going to one place, one company that happens to be owned by five members of the city planning commission. And no one knows about…"

"I get the picture Chloe." Bruce put a hand on her shoulder. She blushed a little and took a sip of water. "How did you find all this out? You said it yourself you've only been here two weeks?" He seemed impressed and Chloe blushed more.

"It wasn't hard; they aren't even trying to cover anything up because they know they don't have to. But if the people knew, they wouldn't just sit around and let it happen to them." Chloe said. "And I'm going to tell them about it. The Gazette is going to tell them about it."

"You're going to clean up Gotham City with a newspaper?" Bruce asked.

"No." Chloe said. "I'm going to clean up my newspaper and the people are going to clean up Gotham City." She said with such conviction that Bruce couldn't help but get swept up in the whole thing.

"Gotham's very own Bob Woodward." Bruce smiled at her. "I like what you're saying but how are you going to do all that?" He asked. "You said yourself half your people are mob payroll and the other half…"

"I might be here a little while longer than I thought." She said. "I'm taking over as temporary Editor and I'm cleaning house."

Bruce whistled. "Chloe that paper employs more than five hundred people. I'm not sure how you're going to clean up Gotham by raising the unemployment rate."

"I can't help that Bruce." Chloe said. "I need my people on this staff, not someone else's." She shook her head. "I'm going to keep as many people as I can, even the incompetent ones because some things can be taught. But I'm not going to let the mob control my paper anymore."

"You're going to piss off a lot of people Chloe." Bruce said suddenly realizing what she was doing. "You do realize that."

"Bruce I've been pissing people off since I was ten years old. Plus I'm a big girl; I can take care of myself." Chloe said.

"Ok, so what does any of that have to do with me buying the paper?" He asked.

"I need this paper to be local." She said. "If someone local owns it, someone local will care about it and from what I can tell you've got more love for Gotham City than anyone else."

"This is true." Bruce said. "I want this city to be what it was when my parents were here, what I know it can be."

"Give me six months." Chloe said. "Buy in now at a quarter, I'll be taking on all costs, you won't be responsible for anything. I'll be working on a skeleton staff for a while but I have faith that within six months I can have the paper running independently and in the black. That's when you buy me out."

"You going to spend millions of dollars to save the paper only to sell it to me once it's better." Bruce said. "I still don't see the sound business in that."

Chloe smiled at him. "Sometimes things are more important than business." Chloe said. "Besides it's not like I'm going to let it go for cheap."

"I'll give you six months." Bruce said. "If the paper's not running at full capacity, completely in the black at the end of six months, you buy my quarter back and I walk away."

"And if it is?" Chloe asked raising an eyebrow.

"I'd better get out my checkbook then." Bruce said standing up. "It was…interesting talking to you Miss Sullivan."

"I look forward to doing business with you Mr. Wayne." Chloe shook his hand and smiled. "I'll be in touch."

* * *

"So you're cleaning up Gotham City one expose at a time?" Oliver asked as Chloe went through another file box. 

"Something like that." Chloe smiled into the phone. "I know this throws our timeline off a bit but…"

"Chloe." Oliver interrupted her. "I didn't expect you to abandon your entire life when I asked you take this job." Oliver reminded her. "I mean I asked you to give up a lot already. If this is something you have to do, this is something you have to do."

"I really appreciate that Oliver." Chloe sighed, glad the he understood her.

"I just…I want you to be careful." He said. "You're in effect taking down the mob here you know that?" He pointed out.

"Oliver, you're talking to the girl who took on Lionel Luther at the age of sixteen." Chloe scoffed. "I think I can handle a Scarface wanna be." Chloe laughed.

"Just…for me." Oliver said.

"Promise." Chloe smiled. "I've got to go though; I've got a ton of work to do."

"Night." Oliver hung up the phone and Chloe went back to her boxes. She never would have admitted it to Oliver but she was a little worried about what it is she was doing here. She'd noticed very large and stoic men following her for the past couple of days since she fired everyone and as soon as the paper hit the newsstands tomorrow they might be following her a little bit closer. The last thing she needed on top of all of this however was Oliver hovering over her like a mother hen. She checked her watch, the presses had been running for three hours now, there was no turning back. Her head ached from going over all the old files in the editor's office and she was dead on her feet, it was time to call it a night.

She cursed herself when she reached the street door, just then remembering that she'd walked to work that morning, not counting on the fact that she'd be at the office so late. She checked the street both ways; a few couples were out walking, coming home from late diners or possibly a movie. She was too busy paying attention to them to see the car that pulled up beside her before it was too late.

"Miss Sullivan." Chloe turned her head and looked at the man who climbed out of the backseat. "May I offer you a ride home?"

"No thanks." Chloe said, her strong voice betraying the way her insides fell when she realized who he was, Salvatore "The Boss" Maroni. He'd taken over organized crime in the city when Marcone was captured, some say he'd always been the head of organized crime in Gotham; he just didn't like to advertise. He was old school, nearing 65 if you believed the rumors; he certainly didn't look it in person. He'd always been in the background, silently sculpting his empire, keeping a tight rein on things, working under Marcone but not for Marcone, letting him be the one in the limelight, the big shot. Maroni worked more secretly, which if Chloe was honest; it made him a little scarier. "It's really a nice night. I think I'll walk." Chloe tried to turn around and walk in the other direction but was stopped by a large man, one of the men she suspected that had been following her.

"I insist Miss Sullivan." Salvatore moved out of the way and the thug grabbed Chloe's arm and led her to the car. She shook him off, glaring as she walked to the car herself and got inside, if he wanted to kill her, she'd be dead all ready so obviously he wanted to talk. "That's a good girl." Salvatore said before climbing inside and closing the door behind him.

Chloe opened her mouth to tell him where to take her, not where she was staying, she wasn't that stupid but Salvatore leaned forward to the driver before she could say anything. "Gotham Tower Apartments." He said and the driver nodded. Chloe swallowed hard because that's exactly where she was staying. "How do you like the Penthouse Miss Sullivan?"

"It's very nice." Chloe said through clenched teeth. "What exactly is it that I can do for you Mr. Maroni?"

"So polite and to the point." Salvatore said to his thug. "I like that. I do what I don't like Miss Sullivan is what's happening to my city…to my paper."

"Your paper?" Chloe smiled at him. "I was under the impression that my Uncle owned the Gazette." She smiled.

"I think it's cute, poor girl makes good. She wants to prove herself, show everyone she's not just a nice piece of ass and a gold card." He leaned closer. "But you're really going to want to do that somewhere else."

Chloe leaned closer herself and looked Salvatore straight in the eye. "Why would I want to do that?" She asked then leaned back. "This city is a fountain of news. Hell I didn't even have to try that hard to fill up the paper and I'm nowhere near finished."

"I hold a lot of weight in this town." Salvatore said trying a different tactic. "From one concerned citizen to another, how are you going to put out your little paper…?" He shrugged at her. "If I decide no one should work at it? And if I decide no one should work at it…" He let the threat hang in the air. Chloe sighed.

"Mr. Maroni." Chloe said crossing her legs. "Let's get one thing straight here. You want to scare off all my reporters, fine, I'm not scared, I ran a paper single handedly for three years in high school and while the scale's a little bit different here the principles the same. Gotham Gazette will come out on time every day, with whatever story I want to print in it despite what I think it might do to you and your…business ventures. You can threaten me, have your people follow me, oh yeah, I spotted them, you can do whatever you think it'll take to get me out of this city but I won't budge, you have my promise on that." The car came to a stop in front of Gotham Tower and Chloe opened her door and stepped out. She reached in her purse and handed Maroni a twenty. "Tip the driver would you, he made really good time."

"Miss Sullivan." Maroni called out the window after her and she stopped and turned around. "That smart mouth of yours is going to get you into trouble one of these days."

"Yeah yeah." Chloe said waving him off. "You're just saying that. Just a heads up Maroni, from one concerned citizen to another. When the Gazette hits the streets in about…" She checked her watch. "Four hours, you might want to have your lawyer handy." She smiled at him. "Commissioner Gordon might have a few questions for you." She waved at Maroni one more time and nodded as the doorman let her into the building. She could hear Maroni yelling at his thug as the car drove off down the road, what she couldn't hear was the deep chuckle coming from the man on the rooftop, dressed in black leather as he watched the scene unfold below.

Chloe wasn't lying. Commissioner Gordon did have a few questions for Maroni the next day and for a few weeks it seemed like some house cleaning was actually going on in the Gotham City infrastructure. It seemed that the people of Gotham were actually pressing for house cleaning. Committee members from ever branch of the government were resigning or being fired. There were several independent enquiries at multiple levels and Chloe was feeling good about herself. Her staff was still skeletal, she had two good reporters, well reporters she thought were good anyway, and she'd have a hard time getting anyone outside the Gazette office to see them that way. Randall Majors was a Gotham City legend; he was taking down organized crime before it became organized crime. In his heyday he was responsible for starting the first gang task force after an expose on juvenile crime, back when people still looked at teenagers as harmless pranksters. Now a days, if Chloe could keep him sober for thirty minutes a day she was guaranteed a good story, if she could keep him sober for an hour, she was looking at front page news.

Miles Wentworth was the other reporter, fresh out of school she'd promoted him from intern to head writer after the dust settled and she realized she had not reporters left. He was keen and anxious to please, and he had a good head and a good eye for stories. He was gung ho and willing to do whatever it takes to get the story, if she could just teach him to write she'd feel much better about him.

Chloe approved the final layout and sent it to the printers sighing in her chair. She hadn't gotten out of the office before ten since her first issue went out. She looked at the clock and debated on whether or not to call a cab. Again she'd been fooled by the nice weather in the morning and decided to walk. Which truthfully she'd been doing all week but, the rest of the week she'd had someone here with her when she was leaving. Miles was always good company to walk home with but he was off with Chloe's only good photographer on the trail of a story that would win him a Pulitzer, or at least that's how he explained it to Chloe. Randall had left earlier that day as soon as his story was turned in and the rest of the staff had long since left the building. There was Andrew in the copy room and a security guard somewhere in the building but Chloe wasn't going to let Maroni get to her.

The day that he was arrested he sent her a bouquet of dead roses but he hadn't done anything since. She took a deep breath and grabbed her bag; she wasn't going to let a man who was sitting behind bars rattle her anymore. She walked out of the newspaper office and hadn't gone two feet when hands pulled at her waist. "Hang on." A gravelly voice said to her at the same time she heard gun shots, tons of them, then came the breaking glass, the screeching tires. She gripped the mystery man tight and she was lifted off the ground. She kept her eyes closed as she soared through the air and remembered the few times Oliver had done something like this, only then it had been fun, now it was terrifying. Her feet touched solid ground and she backed away, catching her breath as she opened her eyes.

She was on top of the Gotham Gazette building and standing in front of her was the legendary Batman. She looked at him for a second and decided that she would deal with him later. She walked to the edge of the roof and looked down. The car was long gone now but the devastation could be seen, even from up there. Glass littered the sidewalk and cars unlucky enough to be parked on the street were riddled with bullet holes. "Crap." She said sighing.

Batman laughed low in his throat and she turned on him anger and adrenaline coursing through her veins. "What exactly is so funny?" She asked with her hands on her hips. He stopped laughing and looked at her a smile visible underneath his mask. "What are you supposed to be anyway?"

"Batman." He said in the same gravelly voice. "You really should pay more attention to your surroundings."

"Please, I'm taking down every dirty citizen of Gotham you think paying closer attention is going to help me?" She glared at him. "And what are you doing?" Chloe asked him.

"Me?" He looked at her confused.

"Yes you." She started pacing back and forth. "I thought this was your town, your territory. Batman was going to clean up the streets. Well it seems to me that I'm the one doing all the work here so what exactly is it that you're doing?" She glared at him and he couldn't help but smile again.

"I'm saving you." He said. She glared even harder and he laughed. "Watching you has become a twenty four seven job lady."

"My name is Chloe, Miss Sullivan if you're in any way polite, but not lady." She said. "And I never asked you to save me."

"And I never asked you to clean up Gotham." He pointed out.

"Someone had to do it." She countered and they were both quiet for a second. "So you've been following me?"

"Ever since your first paper hit the stands." He informed her.

"Why hasn't Maroni pulled anything until now?" She asked him.

"He has, you just haven't seen it." He smiled at her.

"Because you've been taking care of it." She asked and he nodded. "Well thank you I guess." She shuffled her feet on the ground. "And I'm sorry for yelling at you."

"You were just shot at." He shrugged. "It happens."

He turned to leave and Chloe called out to him. "Wait." He turned around and tilted his head to indicate the sirens. "Just a second. You aren't going to tell me to back off?" She asked. "To let you handle it, to stay at home where I belong?"

"Why would I do that?" He asked.

"That's like in the super hero handbook, right after saving the damsel at the last possible second." She shrugged. "They're always telling me to back off."

"You come into contact with many superheros?" Batman chuckled.

"Well the Green Arrow, a few others." She shrugged.

Batman looked at her for a second. "One man can change things, I know that to be true, but it doesn't hurt to have someone else in your corner." He smiled and jumped to the next roof top.

"Hey." Chloe screamed at him. "How the hell am I supposed to get down from here?" He looked at her then at the fire escape that looked as if it would fall in a heap from a light wind. "You're kidding me." She said and gripped her bag tighter as she swung her feet over the side of the building. "Why do they always bring you to a roof top and then leave. I mean you had no intention of coming to the roof top, how the hell are you supposed to get down from the roof top. Least they could do is give you a lift back to the bottom where you were before they butted in. Stupid heroes and their stupid leather and their stupid toys." Chloe grumbled as she climbed her way down the fire escape. This time she could hear the laughs from Batman as he made his way back into the city shadows and she waited on the sidewalk for the police to show up.

Chloe went back to work the very next day with renewed vigor. Workers were removing the plywood that had covered the window openings last night to install the new glass. Miles met her at the door with a cup of coffee and an excited look on her face. "Is it true?" He asked handing her a file folder. She took the coffee and the folder without looking up at him. "About the shooting?"

"No." Chloe said winding her way through the news room to get to her office. "I just felt like wasting money to get perfectly good windows replaced." She sipped the coffee and sighed in delight.

"Right, don't ask stupid questions, you'll get stupid answers." Miles said and Chloe nodded at him. "Ok then what happened? They say Batman showed up."

"Yep." Chloe looked up from the file and passed it off to another worker after signing a few pages. "Just in the nick of time."

"So you met him then?" Miles asked so excited Chloe had to look up at him and smile. "What's he like?"

"Well." Randall said from the doorway. "He's a guy who dresses in a giant bat suit, what do you think he's like kid?" He nodded to Chloe. "Bruce Wayne's here to see you."

Miles looked between Chloe and Randall and his eyes got even larger if that's possible. "Oh man, really? Bruce Wayne here?"

"Don't you have work to do?" Chloe asked him. "What's going on with that story you said was going to get you a Pulitzer?"

"Right." Miles nodded and Chloe turned to see Randall still standing there.

"You…ok?" He asked checking her over in a very subtle way, checking for cuts she guessed from the flying glass.

"Fine." She said. "Where's that piece on the Chamber of Commerce you promised me?"

"Yeah, yeah, why you gotta bust my balls." He moaned and walked out of her office as Bruce started to come in.

"Randall." Chloe called after him.

"Yeah?" He barked turning around.

"Since when are you my secretary?" She smiled at him.

"A lady with a sexy accent asks me to relay a message, I relay a message." Randall said smirking; he'd been hitting on Elizabeth since they got here. Randall nodded at Bruce on his way out.

"Nice going Woodward." He tossed the previous day's paper on her desk, the front page article indicting half of the Gotham government for corruption in various forms.

"Hey." Chloe said. "It's a little busy around here this morning."

"Yeah." Bruce closed the door. "I heard about the shooting."

"They are replacing the windows as we speak and I called the insurance company this morning. They said we are no way liable for the cars that were damaged so we're in the clear." Chloe told him.

"No we aren't in the clear." Bruce said. "I'm not worried about insurance or the windows." He looked at her. "Are you ok?"

"Fine." She brushed him off. "Batman saved the day."

"Batman really?" Bruce put his hands in his pockets and Chloe looked over at him.

"Yeah." Chloe said. "Swooped in all…swoopy like." Chloe said lamely and Bruce chuckled. "What's with the superheros and swooping? I mean is that the only cool way to save someone? You can't just saunter or even stylishly run?"

"You're one of a kind Chloe Sullivan." Bruce said. "Anyone ever tell you that?"

"I wish people would stop telling me that." She sighed. "So as you can see I'm fine, so…"

"Right." Bruce coughed and stood up straighter. "You're not going to stop going after Maroni are you?"

"If he bothered to do his homework, he'd know that the little stunt he pulled last night just got me more fired up."

"That's what I was counting on." Bruce smiled at her and headed for the door.

"Circulations up twenty percent." Chloe said. He stopped, turned and looked at her. "And I'm just getting started."

"I can't wait to see your big finish." Bruce smiled again and walked out of the office.

* * *

A week later she was grabbed leaving the planet and shoved in the back of a car only to have the car stop a few seconds later and Batman pull her out, shaking his head at her as he left her to wait for the police among the now unconscious would be kidnappers. The next day Bruce hired private security to follow her around. Annoyed and unable to work with them hovering she waited until she was walking home one night, sure she was being followed by the security and called the police to have him arrested for stalking. Bruce didn't find it amusing and she told him that she could take care of herself and if he sent any more security after her, she'd have them arrested too. 

The next night, while staying late at the Gazette she was attacked in her office and barely escaped a gunshot wound before Batman rushed in and fought off her attacker. She glared as he told her to be more careful before flying off into the night and she called the police. The day after she came to the office to find a set of metal detectors and a buzzer system being installed by the front door and a security guard sitting by as if on duty. She called Bruce and complained and he said that his quarter share in the paper entitled him to make whatever changes he deemed necessary for the safety of his staff. They bartered for a while and Chloe got him to agree to take off the buzzer if the security guard and the metal detectors stayed.

Then came the car bomb that wasn't thanks to the timely intervention by Batman which led to Bruce's unwelcome hiring of a driver to take her everywhere. She snuck out of the Gazette while he was distracted and let the air out of all the tires and informed Bruce if he sent her another car, she was going to slash the tires and maybe put sugar in the gas tank.

The next week she came out of her shower to find someone in her house and managed to make it out of the front door and to her neighbors where she stayed as the police showed up to investigate, doing more ogling of Chloe in a bath towel than actual investigating and she figured she wouldn't be able to rely on them to help her out of this mess. The next day there was a patrol car outside her building and it followed her to the Gazette where it sat all day. When she left a new car took over, following her home and sitting outside of her apartment all night, only to be replaced in the morning by the day shift.

She tried to ignore it at first but then it became a problem and she grabbed a cup of coffee and walked outside, knocking on the window. "Deputy." She smiled and handed him the coffee.

"Thank you ma'am." He smiled back at her and took a sip.

"What's it going to take to get you to drive away and worry about the rest of Gotham City?" She asked.

"All due respect ma'am, I take my orders from the Commissioner." He smiled sheepishly.

"Then, I'll just have to talk to him." Chloe said and turned down the street in the direction of Police Headquarters. After the underwhelming investigation she'd seen at her house she wasn't expecting to walk into a den of high intelligence at Police Headquarters, but she also didn't expect to step into 1979, smack dab in the middle of Hazzard County, surrounded by a bunch of good old boys. "Well you must be lost." The first detective she saw talked down to her as if she was ten.

"I need to see the Commissioner." Chloe stood her ground.

"Well he's busy, real important business." The guys crossed his arms over his chest and blatantly checked her out from head to toe.

"Busy with what?" Chloe asked through clenched teeth.

"Nothing you need to worry your pretty little head about." He smiled at her.

"Will you tell him that Chloe Sullivan Editor of the Gazette is here?" She asked.

"Oh, sorry I didn't realize you were with the press." The guy raised his hands in the air and took a step back.

"Is there a problem here?" Another guy walked up and set a file on the counter.

"Yes, I need to see the Commissioner."

"Well." He leaned over. "I'm sure that's not necessary, possibly we can help you?" He moved his eyes from her face to her chest without trying to be discreet.

"I am absolutely positive there is nothing you can do for my breasts, Detective…" She squinted at his badge. "Becker. I would like to see the chief."

He straightened up and stopped smiling. "He's busy so you just run along now."

"Yeah ok." Chloe said and then did one of Bart's classic escape moves, she faked like she was going left, spun around to the right and slipped right past them. She was only a foot from the Commissioner's office when they grabbed her.

"This one is feisty." Detective Becker said.

"You really want to let me go." Chloe said glaring at him and Gordon came out of his office.

"What's going on here let her go." He scolded them. "Miss Sullivan, is everything ok?"

She straightened her shirt and glared at the cops before walking into Gordon's office. "I don't know what he's using on you, what he promised you or threatened you with but I want them gone, from my house, from my building."

"If you're referring to the patrol cars, I'm sorry but that's not possible." Gordon sat down. "You've got a price on your head Sullivan and I won't have it collected on my watch. I'm just doing my job here."

"Well it's stopping me from doing my job." Chloe said. "My sources have all gone into hiding because of the patrol car. They think we're just turning people over." She shook her head. "I need them gone to do my job."

"And I need to keep you alive." Gordon stressed to her. "That to me is more important than your paper."

"Really?" Chloe stood up. "The reason that Maroni is behind bars now is because of my paper, in fact the reason that quite a few of those cells are full is because of my paper."

"Be that as it may." Gordon said. "It's not going to stop me from protecting you."

Chloe sat back down and let out a long breath. "You know, if I kill Bruce Wayne, I think I could get my lawyer to argue for Justifiable Homicide."

Gordon laughed. "Why would you want to kill Bruce Wayne?"

"For forcing you guys on me."

"Bruce Wayne?" Gordon looked at her as if she was stupid. "It was Batman who suggested the patrol cars."

"Batman?" Chloe looked up confused. That didn't sound right. The patrol cars stunk of Bruce and all the other things he'd been doing lately.

"If there is nothing else?" He raised his eyebrows and Chloe shook her head and walked to the door before turning.

"Wait a minute; did you say there was a price on my head?" She smiled slightly. "Like a real one, like an actually dollar amount?"

"Yeah." Gordon said uneasily.

Chloe just nodded and then couldn't take it anymore. "How much?"

* * *

"$50,000. $50,000 that's it, that's all I'm worth to Maroni. I could go shopping and drop more than that on shoes." She put the finishing touches on the layout. 

"You can spend $50,000 on shoes?" He laughed.

"Well, I've been known to indulge." She groaned. "Stupid cheapskate criminals, stupid Bruce Wayne, stupid Batman. They're all on my shit list."

"Well I'm glad that without me there at least someone is taking responsibility for keeping you alive, since you don't seem to want the job." Oliver pointed out.

"You're on my shit list now too." She growled.

"Call me tomorrow." He laughed before hanging up.

Chloe finished her work and sent the paper off to the printers. "I'm gone Elizabeth." She said.

"You just got a call from Mister Wayne, requesting you join him for dinner." Elizabeth stood up.

"When?" Chloe asked.

"Tonight." Elizabeth said. "I've already called you a cab."

"You just accepted for me?" Chloe asked. "What if I had other plans?"

"Did you?" She raised her eyebrows and Chloe frowned.

"No." She sighed. "I don't want to have dinner with Bruce Wayne, I'm mad at him."

"He owns part of this paper; he's the most powerful man in town." Elizabeth pointed out as they walked to the door, nodding to the Security guard on the way out. "And you haven't had a date since Spencer broke up with you."

"This is not a date." Chloe turned to Elizabeth. "This is probably a business meeting, or something."

"He's cooking for you." Elizabeth said opening the door to her cab. "The man employs three full time chefs and he's cooking you dinner personally. It's a date." She closed the door and the cab sped off as Chloe's pulled closer to the curb.

"Where to lady?" The driver asked.

"Wayne Manor." Chloe said and they pulled onto the street. "Oh and there is a cop car following us, don't worry about it." The cab driver gave her a look in the rearview mirror and then just kept on driving.

* * *

Chloe pulled herself up onto the countertop in Bruce's kitchen as he stirred away at the stove. "$50,000 Bruce, that's like chump change." Chloe groaned. 

"Woodward, did you come here to complain to me about the lack of money the mob is shelling out to have you killed?" He smiled.

"No." Chloe said. "I just think it seems kind of low you know. Honestly I don't know why I'm here."

"Because I invited you to diner." Bruce held out a spoon and she tasted the marinara sauce. "And you agreed."

"More salt and a little acid." She picked up the lemon next to her and he caught it. "No, my assistant agreed and then convinced me, I'm just not sure how she convinced me because I'm still mad at you." She picked up a slice of green pepper and took a bite.

"Why are you mad at me?" Bruce asked adding the lemon juice to the sauce.

"Oh I don't know the intrusion into my personal space with your bodyguards, the unauthorized renovations on my building." Chloe pointed out. "Pick one; I can't go to the bathroom without someone knowing. Now Gordon's got a patrol car following me everywhere, the night shift is sitting outside your driveway as we speak." He handed her a glass of wine and she smiled. "Between you and Batman I can't breathe."

"Well watching you has become a twenty four seven job lady." Bruce smiled and poured himself a glass of wine and turned back to his sauce. He didn't notice that Chloe had frozen with the glass halfway to her mouth.

"My name is Chloe." She said softly, remembering in vivid detail the phrase Bruce just said to her having been said by someone else on the roof of the Gazette, being said by Batman. She looked over at Bruce and he was the right build and the right height. "Holy Crap." Chloe said and Bruce turned around.

"What?" He smiled at her.

She thought of something quickly to save face. "You get extra points for cooking yourself you know that right?" She jumped off the counter and turned around quickly so he couldn't see her face. "I'll check on the bread." She grabbed the pot holders and pulled the bread out of the oven as Bruce served up the plates and brought them to the table.

Chloe got out another plate and piled it high. "Wow, you're really hungry." Bruce joked bringing the wine to the table.

"This isn't for me." She glared at him and turned to the small room off the kitchen knocking on the door before opening it. "Alfred?"

"Yes ma'am." He scrambled to get out of his chair and block the television that he'd been watching.

She smiled. "Who's winning?"

"Liverpool's up by one ma'am." Alfred smiled sheepishly and Chloe watched the game for a second before shaking her head.

"I knew it; they should never have traded Mizer." Chloe groaned.

"You're a United fan?" Alfred smiled big.

"You know it." Chloe pulled up her sweater to revel a tank top underneath with Manchester United Logo on it.

"I like this one Master Bruce."

"I'm sure you do Alfred." Bruce rolled his eyes.

"Was there something I could do for you miss?" He bowed slightly to her.

"Yes, sorry." She took her attention away from the game and turned to Alfred. "Could you take this down to the nice deputy in the patrol car out front?"

"You're feeding him?" Bruce asked.

"It's not my fault he's got to follow me around all night." Chloe glared at Bruce and turned back to Alfred. "I'd really appreciate it."

"No problem miss." He said walking out of the kitchen toward the front door.

Diner with Bruce wasn't a complete disaster, they talked about the paper for a while then just stuff, nothing to thought provoking or deep which was fine with Chloe because the whole time she was eating the words "Bruce Wayne is Batman" rolled through her head on a loop and it was all she could do not to spit them out.

She checked on the score of the game, Manchester 2 Liverpool 1 which caused and impromptu dance in the kitchen between Chloe and Alfred and then walked down to the end of the driveway and knocked on the patrol car window. "Deputy Rollins." She smiled. "Enjoy your dinner?"

"Yes ma'am." He handed her the plate and she nodded.

"Bruce called me a cab but I'm going to run this back up to the house, if it comes don't let it leave would you?"

"Sure." He nodded and Chloe smiled and made her way back up to the house with the plate. She was only halfway up the drive way before she heard a car and then felt herself being shoved to the ground.

"Stay down." Rollins screamed from his position on top of her as gunshots rang out. "Back up requested at Wayne Manor, shooting in progress." He called into his radio and the wheels squeaked and the car drove away.

"Chloe!" Bruce called from the front door as he ran down the driveway.

"You ok?" Rollins got off of her and checked her over for damage.

"I'm fine." Chloe said shakily.

"You're bleeding." Bruce grabbed her hand as he reached her side.

"Just from the driveway." She assured him. "I scraped them on the concrete." She stared behind him as he tried to wipe the gravel out of her palms. "Oh no." She said tears coming to her eyes.

"What?" Bruce asked looking around.

'I broke your plate." She pointed the million little pieces of glass that were lying on the ground.

"It's ok." Bruce laughed in relief. "It's just a plate."

"But it was so pretty." Chloe cried.

"But it was just a plate." He hugged her. "You're ok, that's all that matters."

"I know." Chloe sniffled. "So why am I crying?" She looked up at him.

"Probably just shock." Rollins said and Bruce nodded.

It took her a minute but she pulled herself together and wiped her tears just as the police and ambulance showed up. She gave her statement of events, got her hands wrapped up and Bruce offered to make up the guest room for her.

"I'd really rather just go home." She said to him and Rollins offered to take her back. The other officers on the scene tried to step in but Rollins insisted that it was his job and he would do it.

When they got to Gotham Tower Apartments she looked over at Rollins surprised when he parked the car, got out and came around to her side to get her. She must have looked more shaken up than she felt. She was even more surprised when he walked her up to her apartment, made her wait in the hall while he checked it out and then when he let her in he sat down at the kitchen table and faced the door, his gun out on the counter. "What's going on?" Chloe asked.

"Commissioner thought it was a joke." Rollins said staring at the door and not looking at Chloe. "He didn't think people were really trying to kill you, so we thought it was a joke too, we signed up for it, kind of like a sick day where you get paid to do nothing. I wasn't paying attention. I should have seen it, that's a remote street; I should have at least been suspicious."

"You saved my life." Chloe said confused. "If you hadn't pushed me down…"

"I should have noticed sooner." He said turning to look at her.

"Are you…staying here? All night?" She asked.

"Yes ma'am." He turned his attention back to the door and Chloe took a deep breath.

"I'm going to make some coffee." Chloe shrugged off the blanket the EMT had given her and walked over to the coffee pot she emptied the sludge from the morning's pot and tried to rinse out the carafe, only her hand was shaking so bad she couldn't get any water in.

"Here" Rollins came up behind her and grabbed the pot from her hands and finished the coffee.

"I don't know why I can't stop shaking." She laughed nervously.

"Shock." He said.

"No, see I've almost died a lot." Chloe looked up at him. "I mean you wouldn't believe me if I told you how many times I've almost died. I'm talking in the hospital, weeklong coma's, emergency surgeries…this was nothing compared to that."

"You lead quite an adventurous life for an heiress." Rollins laughed.

"I wasn't always and heiress." Chloe smiled faintly.

"Sometimes things hit you in strange ways." Rollins shrugged as he waited for the coffee to brew. "I've been on this job for ten years now and every now and then, for a random reason there will be one crime scene that just gets to me."

"I guess." Chloe sighed and leaned against the counter. "You're married?" She asked nodding to the ring on his hand.

"Yes, for five years now." He smiled.

"Any kids?" She asked.

"One, Conner he's two." Rollins smiled brighter.

"You got a pretty wife, a kid, why do you do this?" Chloe looked at him critically.

"Because someone's got to do it. It's my job, to protect people, to keep them safe." He shrugged and Chloe just smiled at him. "What?"

"Nothing, I'm just…you made me remember that ordinary people can be hero's too."

"Yeah well you gotta put a kid through college don't you?" He asked.

Chloe kissed his cheek and walked to the hall. "I think I'm going to go to sleep. Thank you."

"Anytime." Rollins smiled and then poured himself a cup of coffee and resumed his position by the door.


	7. Chapter 7

Chloe got complacent. Rollins watched over her at night and Deputy Mason was on the day shift. For a whole week she managed to forget that someone was trying to kill her because for a whole week no one tried to kill her. It must have gone to her head, because there is no other explanation as to why she would decide to take a shortcut through a Gotham City alley on her way home at 11 p.m.

They'd obviously been waiting for that. For the moment when she slipped up and separated herself from her guards. She felt the hit on the head, not as painful as she thought it would be, then she saw Rollins screaming for her, running to the alley, his squad car abandoned on the street and right before she passed out she heard the gun shot.

When Chloe came to suddenly her first thought was that she had to get out of there, her second thought was to wonder why she was regaining consciousness in an alley, why didn't they just kill her? Take her? She looked up to see the guy who attacked her getting his just desserts by way of Batman. "That guy's freaking everywhere." Chloe said pulling herself up off the ground and ignoring the marching band that was playing in her head. She heard the sirens and almost tripped over Rollins, laying face down, unconscious at the mouth of the alley. She knelt down and tried to find the wound, but her hands were shaking to bad. He'd been shot; she'd seen it hadn't she? Maybe they just knocked him out like they did to her. But she could have sworn she heard a gunshot.

She heard it again, behind her this time and turned to see Batman fly through the air into a pile of debris. Chloe got up and ran to him as the attacker turned the sawed off shotgun on her. But the Siren's were getting closer and the alley had no other means of escape. He debated for a minute before turning and running. "Are you ok?" Chloe asked Batman checking the armor on his chest plate.

"It's bulletproof." Batman said lifted himself to a sitting position. Chloe reached out to help him and her hand slipped on something wet. When she brought it up to her face she saw blood and looked down.

"But not giant metal pole proof." She said shakily as Batman followed her gaze to the metal pipe sticking straight through his side.

"How did…" He trailed off as the siren's got closer. The police couldn't catch him, there was a warrant out for his arrest and if the paramedics took him in, they would unmask him, find out. Chloe sighed.

"Let's worry about the deficiency of your armor later and how we're going to get out of her now." Chloe pulled him to his feet and they back up to the end of the alley.

"My belt." He choked out. Chloe grappled for his belt and he coughed. "Green button." She fumbled for the green button and when she pushed it a wire flew from his belt and wrapped around a pyre on the roof of the building next to them. "Hold on." He said and pushed something on his arm and Chloe grabbed onto his waist as they were pulled into the air. Chloe managed to pull herself and Batman onto the rooftop and laid him down against the edge. "Take my car…"

"Like I can drive that." Chloe said pulling her shirt off and ripping it to a few pieces. "Besides, I hate to break it to you but you're not gonna make it." She brought the strips of fabric over to him and sat down. "When I take this pole out, your gonna have maybe two minutes before you bleed out."

"So don't take out the pole." He said through clenched teeth and she put her hands around the pole, getting a good grip on it.

"I don't take out the pole and you have thirty minutes." She said. "Those twenty eight minutes aren't going to do you any good so you're gonna have to trust me Bruce." His head snapped from her hands to her face and she smiled. "Yeah I know, I've known for three months now and that's kind of important at this moment in time." She grunted and pulled the pole out. Bruce bit his lip so a scream didn't erupt from him and he looked at her panting. "I've known who you are for three months." She said applying one of the strips of fabric to the wound. "And I own the biggest newspaper in the city. So the fact that you haven't seen a "Billionaire Playboy Moonlights as Leather clad Rodent" headline is saying something."

He grunted. "You know what it's saying Bruce? That you can trust me." She sighed taking a deep breath and rubbing her hands together. "And it's really important that you trust me ok, because in a few seconds, I'm about to put all of my trust in you and that's a big deal for me all right." She smiled at him as her hands started to glow. "I'm trusting you with something very, very important here; I need you to nod if you're following me." He nodded his head as he watched the light pulse under her palms. "I'm going to ask you to do something for me, and you're going to think it's strange and stupid but I really need you to do exactly as I say ok?" He nodded again as his pain started to disappear along with the light and he saw Chloe slump down against the ground. He pulled himself up to grab her before she hit her head and realized there was no more pain. He looked down and saw that his stomach was fine, there was no blood, and there was no hole, there was nothing.

"Hey." Chloe said weakly he looked down at her and saw the blood seeping out over her stomach in astonishment. "Promise me." She said swallowing hard. "No hospital, no doctors, and this is the most important thing…whatever happens, no morgue."

"What?" He asked confused.

"Promise me." She said more forcefully.

"I promise." He said holding his hand against her wound, a wound that he knew she didn't have five minutes ago, a wound that looked exactly like the one that just disappeared from his stomach.

"I'm holding you to that." She whispered before her eyes closed and her body fell limp.

Bruce took a deep breath and put his hand to her throat, searching for a pulse. There wasn't one. He sighed lifting her up and carrying her down the building to his car. He looked over at her after he situated her in the seat and sighed. He'd promised no doctors, no hospitals, and no morgues. He started the car and drove away.

Alfred was waiting at the door when Bruce walked in from the cave carrying the very limp and bloody body of Chloe Sullivan. "Master Bruce. Is that Miss Sullivan?" He rushed forward and Bruce brushed him off as he carried Chloe into a guest room and laid her down. Alfred followed him to the room with a first aid kit and went to Chloe's side to clean her up. He noticed as he swabbed the wound that her chest and stomach weren't moving. He grabbed her wrist and felt for a pulse then looked up at Bruce. "Sir…I'm sorry, she's…"

"I know." Bruce sat down in the chair next to the bed and looked at her.

"Should we…"

"No." Bruce said. "Just clean and bandage the wound."

"Of course." Alfred bowed and walked out of the room.

Two days passed, Bruce ate because Alfred made him, went to work so that people didn't start to think something was wrong but as soon as he got home he went straight to the guest room and sat in the chair, wondering why exactly he had Chloe's dead body lying comfortably on his Egyptian cotton sheets and not at the hospital or at the morgue. At some point Bruce fell asleep because he was awaked by the sound of someone gasping for air. His eyes flew open and he saw Chloe sitting bolt upright in bed looking around confused and sucking in air like she'd been under water for an hour. "Hey." He climbed on the bed and grabbed her into a hug. "You're fine." He said astonished. "You're safe, you're ok."

"Every time it's a surprise." Chloe said as she panted. "Like going to bed in a hot tub and walking up in the Arctic Ocean."

Her breathing slowed and she managed to calm herself as Bruce rubbed her back soothingly. He pulled away and looked at her intently as she calmed herself down. "Are you….ok?"

"Fine." She said smiling at him. "You didn't take me anywhere." She said.

"I promised." Bruce reminded her and she chuckled.

"Rollins!" Her eyes got huge and she reached for the side of the bed standing up too quickly and losing her balance.

Bruce caught her and smiled. "He's fine, at the hospital. He had on his vest but the guy shot him with a shotgun at close range, did a little damage but he should be out of there in a few days."

This seemed to calm her down. "Could I..." She pulled away from him. "Get a glass of water?"

"Sure." He smiled headed for the door.

"And maybe…a steak?" She asked sheepishly following him out the door. He laughed and turned to her. "Oh and some fries, proper ones like you get in a good English pub." Chloe seemed to be getting excited about the food as Bruce stared at her. "What? I always need to beef up on carbs after…"

"Steak and Fries it is." Bruce held out his hand and she grabbed it as he led her to the kitchens.

Alfred walked into the kitchen just as Chloe was finishing her second batch of fries and Bruce watched her in astonishment. "Master Bruce I really think…" He froze when he saw Chloe. "Miss Sullivan."

"Alfred." She smiled. "Manchester verses Arsenal Saturday night." He just stared at her and she swallowed. "You ok?" She pulled away and looked at his face in concern.

"It's just…you were…dead." He pointed out to her.

"Oh." Chloe pulled away a little more and looked at Bruce who nodded and she looked back at Alfred. "I got better?" She offered.

"Right." He nodded. "Of course."

"Did you need something Alfred?" Bruce was trying to hide his smile at Alfred's expression.

"No sir." He smiled. "Glad your feeling better Miss Sullivan." He bowed to the two of them and walked out of the room.

"How exactly are you feeling better?" Bruce asked.

"Oh so you save a girl's life and feed her a steak and suddenly she's supposed to spill all her deep dark secrets?" Chloe joked.

"Well I did give you two helpings of fries." Bruce said. "Oh yeah and you died and came back to life after healing me."

"Damn, I was hoping my stunning good looks would distract you so much you'd forget about that part." She batted her eyelashes at him but he didn't smile, didn't laugh, he just stared at her. "Well, I guess I should start at the beginning." So she did, Smallville, Meteor shower, meteor rocks, super powered classmates, super powered crazies, her work with the Green Arrow (leaving out his true identity of course), Lex's crazy experiments, her own discovery of healing abilities, everything she could tell him without giving too much away.

"I'm just…" Bruce paused. "Trying to wrap my head around all this."

"It takes a minute." Chloe stood up. "While you do that I'm gonna search for some of that cake from the other night."

Bruce just stared at her in astonishment. "How can you be so calm about this?" He asked her. "You were dead twelve hours ago."

"But I'm not dead anymore." She smiled and held up a plate. "Found the cake." She grabbed a fork and sat back down.

"But you didn't know you'd get better." Bruce said. "You told me you don't know for sure what even happens. Why would you do that?"

"Look, I don't get this power, I don't know how it works, why it works, I just…I know that no matter what happens to me, I'm not going to sit there and watch someone get hurt knowing I can help." She said to him. "Especially someone like Batman, who does far more good for the City of Gotham than Chloe Sullivan could do for the world."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that." Bruce smiled at her as she finished her cake and stood up.

"I've got to go; I really appreciate what you did." She smiled and kissed his cheek.

"Where are you going?" He asked.

"I need to run a few errands; I want to visit Rollins in the hospital." She didn't mention the other ones.

* * *

Her first stop was the police station where there was complete chaos. "I want a search pattern fifty mile radius from the alley, and then push it out to a hundred, I want dogs there, I want a press conference in two hours. Let's go, let's go." Gordon clapped his hands and Chloe walked up to him.

"Someone kidnap the mayor's daughter?" She asked.

He turned around and froze, slowly the people around him froze and in a minute they were all staring at her. Then she saw it, her picture at the top of the board, they'd been looking for her, they thought she was missing, this was so embarrassing.

After a lecture from Gordon and after giving her statement to an office she was lead to Gordon's office. "I get what you're doing, I really do, trying to keep me safe and I appreciate it but turns out." She slapped a piece of paper on the desk. "A citizen can refuse police protection at any point in time." Gordon looked from the paper to Chloe and frowned. "Rollins has a wife and kid…what good is saving my life if it takes him away from them?" She asked. Gordon just sighed and nodded.

Chloe left the police station renewed, stopped off at the bank and then headed to the hospital. When she got to Rollins room his wife was sitting in the chair by his bed. "I'm sorry I don't want to interrupt."

"No." He sat up straighter. "Honey this is Miss Sullivan." Rollins introduced his wife, Linda. "I was…no one knew where you went, if you were ok…"

"Batman." Chloe said as if that explained everything and for some reason in Gotham it did.

"Thank God." He leaned back in his bed as if finally able to relax.

"I uh…" She laid a bag down on his bed tray and he opened it confused.

"Grapes?" He held them up and her cheeks flushed.

"Sorry, I was in England too long." She smiled. "And I really need to sleep. I just wanted to come see how you were doing, apologize for getting you into this mess and don't say you were just doing your job because you saved my life and you should get credit for that."

"I really don't…" He blushed, embarrassed.

"I know." She sighed. "You hero types are all alike; none of you can take a compliment." She smiled. "There's something else in the bag, I won't take up any more of your time." She bowed out before they could protest and walked down the hall headed to her next destination.

Rollins stared at the door and reached in the bag, coming out with what looked like a checkbook. He opened the booklet only to drop it on the bed. "What?" She asked surprised. "Are you hurt?"

"No." He picked up the booklet again and opened it to show her. It was a savings account in the name of Conner Rollins.

"Balance $500,000.00." Linda said shocked. "That's more than…why would she…" Then a note fell out of the booklet and Rollins picked it up. He read it and smiled. "What?" Linda said impatiently, the hands holding the bank book shaking.

"It says, $50,000.00 is the price that Maroni put on my head, my life's net worth to him. If he can pay that to kill me, I can sure pay that for saving me. I know this is a little more than that but the way I figure it, every day you were following me around, was another day you saved my life so just add them all up. Besides, putting a kid through college shouldn't endanger your life." Rollins handed his wife the note and she looked at him strangely.

"Is this for real?" She asked quietly.

"Knowing Miss Sullivan, no doubt." He nodded in shock.

* * *

Chloe caught movement out of the corner of her eye and she looked up to see Maroni through the glass partition of the visitor's area he nodded at her and she slowly picked up the phone on her side as he did on his. "Chloe Sullivan."

"Salvatore Maroni." She smiled slightly, not nearly as nervous as she thought she'd be. He wasn't as intimidating, sitting behind the glass in his orange jumpsuit with his hands shackled together. He looked much more his 60 odd years in here than he did on the outside in his expensive suits.

"You have no idea how disappointed I am that you're still alive." He smirked at her.

"I'm sure." She rolled her eyes.

"What can I do for you Miss Sullivan?" He looked at her as if he was bored.

"You know, it took me two days, only two, and very little work on my part to dig up that story on you. You know the one, the one that landed you in jail." He glared at her paying attention now. "Just imagine what I could find if I were really trying."

"Are you threatening me?" He asked then leaned forward. "Or blackmailing me?"

"Neither." Chloe said. "I just wanted to tell you that I'm not gonna stop, I'm not gonna leave. You can throw whatever you want at me and I'll just keep coming back for more." She smiled. "And in the meantime, I'm going to bury you, with every piece of dirt that I can find, murder, extortion, bribery, hell unpaid parking tickets and library fines, all so that I can be sure your stuck fighting legal battles until you're in diapers again." She tilted her head and thought for a second. "Well that is, if you live that long."

"What does that mean?" He asked confused.

"There's a vacuum Maroni. You think you're handling everything from in here but you're not. Your reach is getting shorter and shorter by the minute and there are plenty of people out there ready to step up and take your place. And every single one of those people would tell me anything I wanted to know about Salvatore Maroni if I could ensure them that you'd be in that lovely jumpsuit for the rest of your life."

"That's not true." His face was turning red with anger but Chloe was just getting calmer and calmer.

"No?" She asked digging through her bag and slapping a picture on the glass for him to see. "This was delivered to my desk yesterday, anonymously of course. That would be you there right? Shooting Jimmy the Pig at the city dump. It's a nice picture, clear not grainy and you can see everyone's face." She turned the picture back toward her. "I think it's gonna look fantastic on the front page. I'll be sure to send you a copy of tomorrow's paper."

Maroni looked at her differently for a second, almost as if acknowledging that she beat him. "You got spunk kid."

"I got spunk coming out of my ass." Chloe stuffed the envelope back in her bag. "Spunk that's worth way more than $50,000.00 by the way." She hung her phone up and nodded to the guard to let her out and didn't look back as she walked away.

* * *

Chloe seemed more focused at work the next day, better able to concentrate on what she was doing, almost as if she'd been freed of something. "I'm not leaving town Oliver." Chloe said. "I've still got three months to turn this paper around and I'm gonna stick it out."

"There are people trying to kill you." He pointed out as if she was ignorant to the fact.

"Yeah all the more reason to stay." Chloe flipped through a folder. "Like I told Maroni, he's not running me out of town."

"What do you mean "like you told Maroni"?" Oliver asked more calm than he felt.

"When I visited him yesterday." Chloe said distractedly when she heard Elizabeth outside, her voice raised. "You can't just go in…"

"Watch me." A very angry voice shot back.

"You went to visit him?" Two different angry voices screamed at her and she looked between the phone and Bruce who was standing in her office, shaking with anger.

"How could you be so stupid?" Bruce stared pacing. "Why would you do that?"

"I honestly can't believe you sometimes Chloe." Oliver screamed. "All those times you've been hit in the head really screwed you up huh?"

"Look I can't handle both of you yelling at me at once, I'll call you back." She said to Oliver and hung up the phone turning to Bruce who was still ranting and pacing. "Hey!" She screamed and he stopped, shocked, and turned to her. "Could you dial it down please?"

He took a deep breath and glared at her. "I can't believe…"

"We were in a maximum security prison, there were guards everywhere and we were separated by a sheet of three inch thick shatterproof glass." Chloe pointed out. "It was perfectly safe."

"It was perfectly safe?" Bruce screamed. "It was perfectly safe? What planet do you live on where it's perfectly safe to taunt a well connected mob boss while he's in prison, one who already has a price on your head?"

She scoffed, some part of her still a little annoyed at the low price her death would bring in. "Look, you've got to understand these guys." Chloe pointed out. "He respected what I did; he respected me for doing it. Honestly Bruce, I don't think I'm going to have a problem with Salvatore Maroni anymore."

"You can't seriously be that naive." Bruce said.

"You know for someone who fights crime nightly." She said more quietly. "You don't really have a grasp on the criminal element. Sure you understand the desperate thieves, the petty criminals, but this guy is old school. He's about respect and honor and if he got out of jail tomorrow we wouldn't have dinner together but he wouldn't be dumping my body in the river either."

Bruce ran a hand through his hair. "You're gonna be the death of me Woodward."

"Please." Chloe said. "You love it, the excitement I bring to your boring life."

He cracked a smiled at that and shook his head. "How can I not stay mad at you?"

"The phrase cute as a button has been tossed around before." Chloe smiled at him. "I've heard that it's impossible to stay angry with buttons."

"Geez." He chuckled quietly.

"So are you done yelling?" Chloe wondered. "Can I go back to work?"

"On one condition." Bruce said and Chloe nodded. "Be my date to the Hospital fundraiser tomorrow night."

"Since I was planning on going anyway." Chloe smiled. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to have some arm candy." He smiled at her then leaned forward and kissed her forehead.

"Just…be careful ok?"

"Careful is my middle name." Chloe smiled as he walked out. "Hey." Chloe called after him and he turned around. "How do you know I taunted him?"

"One of the guards over heard the conversation." Bruce said. "It's all over the precinct now, the spunky blond reporter taking on the mob." Chloe smiled as he left the building.

* * *

The next day, just as Chloe promised him, along with his mail Maroni was delivered a copy of the Gazette with the picture she'd showed him on the front page. "Girls got Spunk." He chuckled as he read the article.

"We're gonna be late." Bruce said feigning impatience as Chloe signed off on articles and made layout changes, a stop at the paper was not what Bruce was expecting when he picked her up for the Hospital fundraiser.

"Almost done." She said scribbling on a large sheet faster with a red pen. "Get those changes done and send it to the printers." She handed off the sheet to Elizabeth who nodded and walked out of the room. "Sorry." She smiled at Bruce.

"It's ok." He assured her and led her out of the building. He was prepping her on how bad she could expect the food to be when they both stopped short of Bruce's car. Two very large men in suits were blocking their way, staring at them. Bruce put a hand out to push Chloe behind him but she wouldn't budge.

"Miss Sullivan." One of the men said. "Mr. Maroni would like to see you."

Chloe looked from the man to Bruce and then back. "Now?" She looked down at her dress and over at Bruce's tux.

"If it's not too much trouble." The second man offered politely. "Visiting hours are about to end."

"Chloe." Bruce warned her.

"Do you know why?" Chloe asked the two gentlemen.

"He didn't specify. He just asked us to request that you go see him." The first guy said.

"You can't be contemplating this." Bruce said to her.

"It'll only take thirty minutes, an hour at the most, we won't even miss anything." She pleaded with him. She had to admit she was curious.

"I can't talk you out of this can I?" Bruce sighed.

"No." She shook her head.

"Then I'm coming with you." He nodded at the men and led Chloe to his car. He gave the new destination to the driver but didn't say anything after that. They signed in and were shown to the visitor's room. Bruce stood silently behind Chloe glaring at the man who had sent multiple people to kill her.

"Miss Sullivan." Maroni sat down and picked up the phone. Chloe picked up hers.

"You requested to see me?" She asked raising an eyebrow.

"You look lovely." He smiled at her. "I hope you didn't get all dressed up for me?"

"Hospital fundraiser." She said.

"Ah yes, I went every year do you know that?" He asked her. "Donated quite a bit of money too."

"That's nice." Chloe said. "Did ask me here for small talk?" She said.

"No." He shook his head. "I just wanted to tell you that you win."

"I'm sorry." Chloe asked confused.

"You win." He said simply. "My lawyer informs me, after your expose from yesterday, that it's unlikely I will get out of this place anytime soon. My influence is, just as you said, not what it used to be and I am an old man Miss Sullivan. You are frankly not worth the hassle anymore; let my replacement waste his time in trying to kill you."

"I see." Chloe didn't want to smile; it would cheapen the moment somehow. "That's very gracious of you."

"I only ask one favor."

"You want a favor from me?" She smiled this time.

"This favor, I don't think you'll refuse." He said to her. "I simply ask that you go after my replacement with as much spunk as you went after me."

"You're right." Chloe said. "That is a favor that I can't refuse." She smiled. "Now, I'm going to be late…"

"Miss Sullivan." Maroni called out to her. "A bit of advice."

Chloe's ears perked up, she was going to get advice from a mob boss, this had to be interesting. "Yes?"

"Whatever you do, don't order the chicken plate." She looked at him amused. "Trust me."

"I'll take that under advisement." Chloe tried to hold back a smile as she hung up the phone and nodded at Bruce that it was time to leave. When they were in the car and the shock had somewhat worn off she laughed.

"What was that about?" Bruce asked.

"He conceded." Chloe said.

"Conceded?" Bruce looked at her amazed.

"He said I won." She smiled. "That he was too old to be bothered with me anymore. That he would leave me for his replacement to deal with."

"That's it?" Bruce asked shocked.

"Oh and he warned us not to order the chicken plate at the fundraiser." She smiled. Bruce looked at her and laughed, and then Chloe laughed, and then neither of them could seem to stop laughing. That was the picture on the front page of the Society section the next day. Chloe Sullivan and Bruce Wayne entering the Hospital fundraiser in on a private and seemingly intimate joke.

* * *

The Hospital fundraiser turned into diners together, then lunches, then lazy Saturdays hanging out in the park, and suddenly she was on the cover of the society pages again, thistime with pictures of Bruce Wayne.

Chloe signed the last shipping order and handed the papers to Elizabeth. "You're going to be late." She said eyeing Chloe who had planned ahead for once and was standing in her office at the Gotham Gazette in an evening gown.

"I know." Chloe grabbed her shoes from under her desk. "Bruce is going to kill me."

"He called me three times today, expressly asking me to make sure you were on time tonight." Elizabeth pointed out to her.

"I know, I know." Chloe pulled on her shoes and grabbed the wrap off the back of her chair. "I'm leaving."

"Miss Sullivan." Ryan, her staff photographer ran to catch up to her as she left her office. "I need you to approve the pictures for the Festival articles."

She held out her hand and grabbed the file he was holding flipping through it without stopping walking. "No, no, yes, no, what the hell is this?" She stopped in her tracks and stared at a picture. Ryan looked over her shoulder.

"The world's largest bowl of chocolate pudding." Ryan said, trying to keep a straight face.

"It looks like a giant bowl of dog crap, no." She flipped through the other pictures. "Yes, yes, no, yes." She handed the folder back as Elizabeth came up to her.

"Aren't you going to be late?" Ryan asked as Chloe checked the clock again and sighed.

"Jewelry." She held out her hand and Chloe saw a mish mash of earrings, necklaces and her charm bracelet resting there. She pulled out the bracelet and then reached in for a pair of earrings that would match the dress.

"Chloe." Janet her political correspondent came walking up. "We've got a problem with Mason Phillips again."

"Walk and talk." Elizabeth said to her and Chloe motioned for Janet to follow them as she put the earrings in.

"He refuses to give an interview." Janet explained.

"The man is running for Mayor of Gotham City and won't even give us a freaking sound bite." Chloe sighed in frustration as she looked through the different necklaces Elizabeth had picked out for her. "Do we have the sapphire dragon fly that Bruce gave me?"

"In your office." Elizabeth turning around and disappearing as Chloe stopped to talk to Janet.

"Look, he knows that he's not going to be able to win this election without our support so that means he wants something." Chloe tried to latch her charm bracelet. "He should be at Bruce's tonight; I'll shake him down for you."

"Thanks." Janet sighed visibly. "Let me." Janet grabbed her wrist and latched the charm bracelet for her.

"Dragonfly necklace." Elizabeth slid to a stop and put the necklace on Chloe who smiled when she was finally adorned.

"You're going to be late." Janet reminded her.

"Right." Chloe said. "Maybe that could be my thing, charmingly late."

"It won't be so charming in fifteen minutes." Elizabeth tapped her watch.

"Right." Chloe said calling over her shoulder as she left. "If Bruce calls…"

"You left an hour ago, traffic must be killer." Elizabeth finished the sentence with a smile on her face.

"You're an angel." Chloe called after her and stepped out into the Gotham city night. She turned down the street and headed closer to the business district. Even with Maroni's assurance that she was safe, from him at least, her preferred mode of transportation was still cab but it was hell getting one in front of the Gazette at this time of night so she was forced to walk to a more inhabited part of the city in hopes of finding one.

Her phone rang before she was two blocks away and she pulled it out sighing. "Go." She said.

"You forgot to approve the layout; it's got to be at the printers in twenty minutes to make the deadline." Elizabeth said. "I've e-mailed it to you."

"Hold on." Chloe pulled the phone away from her ear and pushed a few buttons. She put the phone back to her ear. "Switch the Highway Bill approval and the zoning piece and get a better picture for the Museum Benefit announcement we should have a few exterior shots in stock footage."

"No problem." Elizabeth said.

Chloe was so busy on the phone she didn't see the two guys walking intently for her until they each had hand under her armpit and were pulling her into the nearest alley. "Excuse me." She said amazed.

"Money and jewelry." The tall one said.

"Well isn't this refreshing." Chloe rolled her eyes. "A good old fashioned mugging."

"He said money and jewelry lady." The fat one emphasized pulling out a gun.

"I don't have time for this." Chloe sighed digging in her purse for her wallet. "Here, take the wallet." She handed the wallet to the tall one and thought about the necklace that Bruce had given her and her beloved charm bracelet. "But the jewelry isn't valuable, just sentimental. There's more money in the wallet trust me."

"Are you playing with me?" The fat one asked.

"Ok." Chloe reached up. "These are four carats each, much more valuable than the sapphires, just take them and let me have…"

Before she could finish the hand not holding a gun was around her throat tearing the necklace off of her and then slapping her hard across the cheek. "This isn't "Let's Make a Deal" bitch."

"You're going to want to apologize for that." A deep voice said from the front of the alley.

"This doesn't concern you freak." The fat one with a gun turned at the same time as Chloe to see the Green Arrow standing at the mouth of the Alley with his bow raised and ready.

"Of course it does." He let an arrow fly and the gun flew out of the fat one's hand. He'd pulled another arrow and had it set before they could blink and it was flying through the air, grabbing the fat one and pushing him to the end of the alley, securing him to the wall. Oliver walked further into the alley as the tall one scrambled for the gun but he never made it, another arrow was loosed and the tall one was pinned next to the fat one at the back of the alley.

"What are you doing here?" Chloe asked pulling herself away from the wall and feeling her cheek where she'd been slapped.

"A thank you very much wouldn't go unappreciated." Green Arrow said pulling Chloe's wallet from the tall one.

"How long were you out there?" She asked as her cheek started stinging. "You had to wait until after he slapped me?"

"I didn't think you would negotiate." Green Arrow chuckled snatching the necklace from the fat one's hand. "You should have just given him the necklace."

"It has sentimental value." Chloe pointed out. "What I should have just handed over the charm bracelet too?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Sentimental value huh?" Green Arrow held the necklace up to look at it and suddenly his hands were pinned to his side by a cable that wrapped around his waist a few times. "What the…"

He looked up to see a large black bat swoop in and knock him to the ground. "Hand it over." Batman growled and Chloe rushed forward.

"Wait, wait." She pushed Batman away from the Green Arrow and held up a hand. "He's a good guy." She nodded to the end of the alley. "They're the bad guys."

"Yeah." Green Arrow said as Chloe helped get him out of the cables. "Good guy."

Batman looked him over as he stood up and scoffed. "How was I supposed to know? You're like a magnet for trouble and he's holding your wallet and necklace. I just assumed."

"Yeah well you assumed wrong." She grabbed the wallet and necklace back from Oliver and slipped both in her bag. "Don't you have somewhere you're supposed to be right now?" She scrutinized him, wondering how he managed to slip out of his own party.

"Well if someone would leave work at a decent hour, maybe I wouldn't have to spend all my free time saving your butt." Batman joked with her.

"Excuse me." Green Arrow stepped forward. "I do believe I was the one who did all the saving." He pointed to his arrows keeping the thugs in place. "Where as you just swooped in and attacked the wrong person for the hell of it."

"I'm still not sure I did attack the wrong person." Batman sneered.

"I think Chloe should be the judge of that." Green Arrow crossed his arms over his chest.

"Yes I think she should." Batman glared at Green Arrow.

"Do you guys need to be alone?" Chloe looked between the two of them and smiled slightly. "Cause I've got a party I'm late for."

"I'll take you." They both said at the same time, not bothering to look at Chloe. "What?" Bruce looked at the street and saw Green Arrows motorcycle. "That's not really practical is it? With her in that dress?"

"She's never complained before." Green Arrow chuckled. "You're gonna fly her there?"

"Actually." Bruce pushed a button and they turned the head of the alley to see his car pull up and stop. "I brought my car tonight." Green Arrow scoffed.

"Can you say over compensating?" He turned to Chloe to share the joke but she wasn't there. "Chloe?" They looked at each other then headed for the mouth of the alley. She was walking purposefully down the street muttering to herself.

"Where are you going?" Green Arrow called after her.

"To catch a cab." Chloe said. "You two should argue some more, really keep it up, it was so productive." She turned the corner with finality and both superhero's stopped and looked at each other.

"I really have somewhere I need to be." Green Arrow headed back to his bike.

"I'm late for something myself." Batman added heading to his car.

* * *

Chloe had beat Bruce to the party wondering how long it would take for him to change out of the skin tight leather and into a tux as she mingled around the room. She lost count of the amount of people asking her where the birthday boy was and she suddenly started to feel stood up even though they hadn't specifically said it was a date. "He was running a little late." Chloe said for what felt like the hundredth time. "Last minute business."

"He works to hard." Leslie Parker smiled. "So do you though, I guess that's why you guys are so good together."

"Excuse me." Chloe pressed a smile on her face. "I need to talk to Senator Phillips. It was so good to see you again." She kissed Leslie's cheek and walked away wondering how after two diners and a few lunch's her and Bruce were suddenly together as all the denizens of Gotham were concerned.

"Senator Phillips." Chloe deftly intercepted him before he could get embroiled in another conversation, slipping her arm though his elbow. "Might I have a word?"

"Certainly." He smiled, although Chloe could tell it was far from genuine.

"Why are you giving my reporters the run around?" She asked getting straight to the point.

"I'm doing no such thing." He feigned ignorance.

"Senator Phillips." Chloe said in a scolding tone. "You know you're going to need the Gazette if you're serious about making a go for Mayor. We're doing the candidate platform stories on Tuesday, so just tell me, what's it going to take for you to sit down with Janet Monday morning?"

"Direct and to the point, I respect that." He laughed at her. "I want a full page human interest piece, which I can approve before printing, and free campaign ads from now until the end of the election."

"That's cute." Chloe smiled. "I'll have to tell Janet about your sense of humor."

"I'm not joking." He stared at her with one eyebrow raised.

"Mason." Chloe said using his first name to show that she wasn't playing nice anymore. "We both know the ad is a pipe dream, you want to advertise in the Gazette, you pay for a slot like your competitors. As for the piece, since you're a new comer to local politics I can swing that and you can even look at it before print but there's no way I'm giving you creative control, that's what my first amendment is for."

"Miss Sullivan forgive me but you've been known to crucify anyone one whim." Mason pointed out. "You have ended many a promising political careers in this city, so excuse me if I'm not jumping up and down to bare all to your paper."

"Now honestly, we're printing the story with or without your particular input but it would behoove you play ball with me. It's pretty well known by now that the only people who snub the Gazette are in league with Maroni and the city isn't catering to his every whim anymore so if you'd like to distance yourself from him I'd really think about setting up a time to talk to Janet on Monday."

Mason looked at her shrewdly for a minute before nodding. "I'll have my secretary set it up." He said to her. "I'm not in league with Maroni."

"I realize that." Chloe smiled at him. "You are the best candidate for Mayor Gotham City's had on the ballet for more than a decade."

"Then why are you giving me such a hard time?" Mason asked.

"It's not my job to make friends with you; it's my job to keep you on your toes so you'll stay the best candidate for Mayor." She smiled at him. "Monday." She said before walking away.

"That was impressive." A voice said in her ear and she turned around smiling.

"Oliver." She sighed, amazed at how glad she was to see him, Oliver Queen, not the Green Arrow. She resisted the urge to hug him and hold on tightly because as far as the people in that room were concerned they didn't know each other.

"You look amazing." He said smiling at her.

"Chloe!" Rose walked up with Lily, the two of them having come in to town the night before for Bruce's party. "I see you've finally met the elusive Oliver Queen."

"I saw her from across the room and just had to come introduce myself." Oliver said kissing Chloe's hand and smiling at Rose. "Since no one else has had the good manners to do it for me."

"Do you always wait and let someone else do your dirty work?" Bruce asked from behind Chloe and she jumped slightly as he deftly slid his arm down her back and around her waist to settle on her hip. "So sorry I'm late." He leaned down and placed a kiss on her cheek.

"It's ok." Chloe said. "It's your birthday, you can be as late as you like." Rose smiled at the two of them and only Oliver and Bruce could tell that her voice betrayed her smile.

"Bruce." Oliver held out a hand. "Happy Birthday. God, it's been a while huh?"

"Since that trip we took to Switzerland." Bruce said shaking Oliver's hand. "What was that six years ago?"

"God, has it been that long." Oliver smiled. "You must be getting old. Bruce and I were almost inseparable in our school days; best of friends isn't that right?" Oliver said.

Bruce smiled genially and Rose and Lily seemed to be enjoying the exchange with rapt attention. "That's right." Bruce said to Chloe. "Oliver was one of the best friends I'd ever had. It's a shame we lost touch after college." Chloe felt like laughing but knew it would be inappropriate. What were the odds that two guys who had been such good friends growing up could stare each other down in an alley in costumes and not even realize who they were talking to. People could be so blind.

"I'd like to hear all about it sometime." Chloe smiled at the two of them.

"Maybe." Bruce smiled.

"We should all get together sometime this week." Oliver smiled. "I'll be in town for a little while still. We could catch up, regal Chloe with stories of our rambunctious youth."

"That sounds great." Bruce said. "I'll have to see what night Chloe and I are free." They stared at each other for a second before Bruce looked down at Chloe and smiled bright. "Have I told you yet how beautiful you look tonight?"

"No." Chloe smiled. "You haven't."

"Well you do." Bruce smiled at her and brought a hand up to her neck. "All though I thought you were gonna wear the necklace I gave you."

Chloe reached in her purse and pulled something out. "It broke." She looked between the two guys and saw Oliver's face give a slight reaction to the necklace as he looked at it then at Bruce. She'd told him it had sentimental value and now he knew why. "I was almost mugged on my way out of the planet." Chloe said at the confused look on Rose's face.

"Oh no, you poor thing, what happened?" Rose touched her arm.

"Nothing." Chloe smiled. "I got away, everything's fine." She said. "Except the necklace." She deliberately left out the part that Oliver and Bruce both played in her rescue, not wanting to increase the tension any more.

"You sound as if you were very lucky." Oliver said to her, the real smile gone from his face as he studied Chloe intensely.

"I was." She assured him as sincerely as she could and he nodded almost imperceptibly. She wanted to reassure him that she was grateful for what he did without drawing attention to it.

"So Oliver." Bruce looked around the room. "No date tonight?" He raised an eyebrow.

"You always have the most beautiful girls at your parties Bruce." Oliver said his eyes on Chloe. "That would be like bringing your own snacks to an all you can eat buffet."

"And on that high class note." Chloe untangled herself from Bruce. "It's nice to see you again Oliver." She held out her hand but instead of shaking it he grabbed it and kissed her knuckles again. "Rose." Chloe slipped her arm in Rose's. "Lily, I think I just saw Abby walk in, I haven't seen her in ages."

Rose and Lily smiled and walked away with Chloe as Oliver and Bruce stared at each other. "Oh my God." Rose fanned herself with her hands. "How are you so lucky?"

"What?" Chloe laughed.

"The total showdown between Bruce and Oliver just now, you had to have been on another planet not to catch that." Rose smiled.

"What are you talking about?" Chloe laughed. "Abby!" She smiled and hugged the girl and then passed her off to Rose then Lily.

"You just missed it." Rose said excitedly. "Oliver Queen vs. Bruce Wayne."

"Oh." Abby smiled excited. "What for?"

"Our very own Chloe Sullivan." Lily said.

"Not even." Chloe tried to brush them off.

"I mean obviously it's no contest." Rose said. "You and Bruce are like perfect for each other, everyone knows that."

"And Oliver is such a ladies' man." Lily pointed out. "No long term aspirations there." They looked across the room where Bruce and Oliver seemed to be getting along much better now that Chloe was gone, both laughing at something genuinely.

"But my god." Abby said in Chloe's ears. "If Oliver Queen doesn't look better in a tux than anyone in this room I'll give up my shoe collection."

"Abby!" Rose shrieked.

"Honey I'd take one night with him." Abby said. "I'd be able to die happy."

Oliver must have felt Chloe looking because he turned his head slightly away from Bruce and caught her eye. He smiled a rare smile for Oliver, not his full blast, blow off a girls panties at fifty paces mega watt smile, or his cat that just ate the canary smile, it was a small smile, just the corners of his mouth turned up slightly, a private smile almost. Chloe couldn't help but smile back and she hadn't realized how long she'd been looking at him until she turned away and saw Rose and Abby staring at her in shock. "What?" Chloe said confused.

"What was that?" Rose asked.

"What?" Chloe said.

"That thing, just now, you and Oliver, we all saw it." Abby smiled at her. "My god, he's still looking at you, staring…"

"Hmm, looks like Bruce just got some competition." Lily raised an eyebrow.

"Ok." Chloe turned to the both of them. "No more champagne for you. One, Bruce and I are…we're just…it's not very serious ok. And two, Oliver seems very nice but there is nothing going on there either."

"Right." Rose scoffed. "That's why he can't keep his eyes off of you."

"Well, probably because he's trying to remember me."

"You've met before?" Abby said hoping for a nice piece of juicy gossip.

"It was a long time ago, almost four years. He was in Metropolis on business and I was working at the Daily Planet. It was before…" She trailed of not sure how to put it, before she became rich and fabulous. "Before I moved in with my Uncle. He probably doesn't remember me. I ran an errand to his office once and we talked briefly for two seconds." It was the story that they had come up with a long time ago, in case anyone remembered seeing them together back in Smallville.

"Huh." Abby said looking again at Oliver and straightening up. "Well he may not remember you but he sure wants to." She elbowed Chloe and they saw Oliver heading their way.

"Ladies." Oliver nodded at all of them. "With Bruce otherwise engaged I was hoping I could get one of you lovely woman to give me a tour of the house. I haven't been here in so long, I've almost forgotten what the place looked like."

"Chloe can do it." Rose pushed her forward. "She knows this house top to bottom."

Chloe glared at Rose who just shrugged. "You know." Abby pressed. "You and Chloe have met before, you probably don't remember."

"Four years ago." Oliver said smiling at her. "You were working for the Daily Planet and you delivered something to my penthouse." Rose and Abby raised their eyebrows. "You were wearing a cute little black suit with a cream colored silk top underneath." He said and Chloe had to raise her eyebrows at this because that is the exact outfit she had on the first time they'd actually met. "Your hair was shorter than this and it had little messy curls in it."

"Good memory." Lily smiled.

"She's a hard person to forget." Oliver smiled.

"Well then." Chloe interrupted before Abby, Rose, or Lily had time to say anything else. "How about that tour?"

"Lead the way." Oliver held out his hand and Chloe took it leading him away from the crowd. They talked about nothing of any importance for over an hour as Chloe showed him the house and Chloe felt so comfortable being back in Oliver's presence as if they'd always been like this. For two people who talked on the phone daily, sometimes twice she was surprised how easy conversation flowed, especially conversation that had nothing to do with Lex or super abilities. They ended their tour in the study and Chloe walked over to the desk, grateful they were finally in a quiet room.

"Bruce Wayne?" Oliver said when they were out of ear shot.

"Bruce Wayne what?" Chloe asked.

"Bruce Wayne and Chloe Sullivan." Oliver prompted. "You and he…you're…dating?"

"We've been out a few times." Chloe said suddenly uncomfortable. "What?"

"Nothing. He just…didn't seem like your type." Oliver shrugged.

"I have a type?" Chloe asked smiling. She'd missed talking with Oliver so much.

"Yeah you know, good looking, secretive, fights for truth, justice, and the American way." Oliver smirked at her.

"You just described almost every man I know." She said. "And no man I've ever dated." She pointed out.

"Except Bruce." Oliver pointed out.

"Except Bruce." Chloe said playing with a paper weight. "Is this going to be a problem?" She looked up at him. "Mess up your plans?"

"No." Oliver smiled. "It just makes them more…interesting."

Chloe looked at him confused, she wasn't sure she liked the tone he was using or the smile on his face. "What does that mean?"

"Nothing." Oliver smiled. "I just hope Bruce Wayne's ready for some competition."

"No Oliver." Chloe shook her head. "You can't turn this into…Bruce is a good guy…I don't want you two too…" She took a deep breath. "When did the plan go from Oliver Queen and Chloe Sullivan hanging out a lot to Oliver Queen and Chloe Sullivan dating anyway?"

"What better way for Oliver Queen and Chloe Sullivan to spend a lot of time together without it being suspicious?" Oliver asked smiling.

"I'm not going to hurt Bruce for a pretend relationship." Chloe informed Oliver.

"Chloe." Oliver said. "Are you planning on marrying him?"

"I don't even know if I want to go to the Opera with him next week but that's not the point. He's not a part of this, we don't have to bring him into it."

"You brought him into it." Oliver told her.

"I'm not supposed to have a life Oliver?" She asked pulling him further into the room, away from listening ears. "Chloe Sullivan was just supposed to sit around and knit until the day she finally met Oliver Queen?"

"Of course not." Oliver scoffed. "That's not what I…"

"And your right, I probably won't marry him but I like him Oliver. I like his company and I like being able to talk to him on the phone without pretending that he's someone else and I like eating lunch with him in public." Oliver's smile faded more with every reason she gave for liking Bruce. "And I like the fact that when people compliment the necklace he gave me I can give him the credit for it." She almost jingled the charm bracelet in his face. "Instead of saying my father or my Uncle gave it to me."

"I know Chloe." Oliver sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Soon enough we can have lunch in public." Oliver grabbed her arm. "And talk on the phone and you can show off everything I buy for you…"

"Oliver…" Chloe sighed. "That's not…"

"There you are." Bruce said from the doorway and stared at the two of them until Chloe moved away from Oliver's grip. "Rose said you were giving Oliver a tour."

"Yeah." Chloe smiled walking over to Bruce. "He wanted to see the house."

"Funny." Bruce put his hands in his pockets. "He practically grew up here."

Chloe looked over at Oliver who smiled and walked to the door. "But you rebuilt the whole thing Bruce. Wanted to see the new and improved version."

"It's exactly the same as the old one." Bruce said slipping his hands around Chloe's waist.

"Not exactly." Oliver said glancing at the protective grip Bruce had on Chloe's waist.

"Some things were…upgraded but mostly it's the same old house." Bruce shrugged. "Well if you'll excuse us, it's time to cut the cake and they tell me my presence is required."

"Oh." She smiled. "Cake. Is it chocolate? You know I can't pass up chocolate cake." Chloe grabbed Bruce's arm and waved at Oliver as she followed Bruce back into the main room.

* * *

Oliver walked to the edge of the crowd and peered over the tops of heads as the cake was wheeled out and Chloe smiled up at Bruce while he cut it, offering her a taste of icing. He laughed as she tried to avoid it, as if he would try and smear it on her face when someone came up next to him. "Aren't they adorable together?" Abby asked sipping her champagne slowly.

Oliver looked over at Abby then back at Chloe who had finally licked the icing off Bruce's fingers and was smiling as he gave her a kiss. "I don't know." Oliver stood up straighter. "They don't seem to fit."

"They don't fit?" Abby raised an eyebrow. "In what way?"

"I'm not sure yet." Oliver said smiling. "But I'm gonna find out."

"Are you?" Abby asked. "Do you mind if I ask why?" Oliver looked down at her again, still smiling.

"Why?" Oliver said confused.

"Why Oliver Queen, self renowned ladies man is so worried about the fact that Bruce Wayne and Chloe Sullivan don't fit?"

"See." Oliver nodded at her. "You don't think they fit either."

Abby sighed. "No, I don't." She shrugged. "But she's happy now, and he's happy now and they're my friends, so until they stop being happy, I don't care."

"I'm your friend." Oliver reminded her.

"Yes." Abby said. "You are which means I know you." She pointed out. "Which is why I ask again. Why do you care so much about Chloe Sullivan and Bruce Wayne?"

"Abby." Oliver smiled at her. "Are you telling me to back off?"

"Are you planning on breaking her heart?" Abby asked.

"I don't ever plan it." He joked and when she didn't smile he looked at her with a straight face. "I just want to get to know her, be her friend. She's different." He admitted to her. "Intriguing, stunning, and she's much too good for Bruce."

"Yeah." Abby nodded. "But doesn't that make her much too good for you too?"

"No doubt about that." Oliver laughed. "She's way out of my league now." He looked back up at Chloe and smiled as Bruce fed her another piece of cake.

"Well, at least you know that." Abby smiled at him for the first time. "Chloe is one of a kind."

"I'm beginning to see that." Oliver said. "Well." He turned to Abby. "Now that Chloe has been claimed for the night by Bruce Wayne, care to keep me company for the remainder of the party?"

"Are you using me to get in good with her?" Abby squinted at him as if it would reveal all his secrets.

"Will it work?" Oliver asked.

"It might." Abby admitted. "You know once someone gets to know you Oliver; you're a pretty great guy."

"That's what I'm counting on." Oliver said. "Force myself down her throat until she can't help but realize how amazing I am."

"God." Abby laughed. "I'd forgotten how completely full of yourself you are."

"But in a good way right?" Oliver asked.

Chloe smiled at Bruce and watched Oliver talking with Abby. Somewhere, somehow Oliver had turned this whole thing into a pissing contest with Bruce and she wasn't sure how she felt about that. In fact she wasn't entirely sure how in three hours with Oliver she'd gone to "hanging out" with Bruce to girlfriend extraordinaire, which was how he was acting now. "You ok?" Bruce asked as she watched Oliver and Abby walk out of the room.

"Yeah." She smiled up at him. "Did you save me an end piece?" Her eyebrows waggled at him and he produced a corner cut of cake from behind his back and she smiled kissing him softly and took the cake. "You are the greatest." She smiled at him grabbing for a fork.

"I try." He smiled down at her as she bit into the cake and then offered him a piece.

Chloe awkwardly did her duty and stood by Bruce at the end of the night, saying goodbye as the party wound down. "So good to see you again." She kissed the cheek of one of Bruce's colleges. "Call me about the fundraiser and I'll make sure someone from the Gazette is there to cover it."

"Will do." She smiled at Chloe and walked out the door.

"Chloe." Oliver stood there and grabbed her hand. "It was really great to see you again."

"You too Oliver." She smiled as he leaned in to kiss her cheek.

"Set up a meeting with the Bat." He whispered in her ear and she nodded imperceptivity. "I understand your final destination is Star City?" He smiled at her. "That's where your home office is right?"

"Yes." Chloe said a little annoyed at bringing up how Gotham City was not a permanent place for her.

"I think the Global building is right next to Queen Towers. We'll be seeing a lot of each other." He said to her. "Maybe we can go get some coffee while I'm in town, get to know each other better."

"I'd like that." Chloe said and he nodded.

"Bruce." Oliver said shaking his hand.

"Oliver." Bruce smiled at him. "Don't be a stranger."

"Count on it." Oliver said walking out to his car.

"Well now that we have the house all to ourselves…" Bruce put his arms around Chloe and she pulled back. "I have a bone to pick with you."

"With me?" Bruce said confused.

"Yes with you." She put her hands on her hips and glared at him. "You knew, you knew the whole time who the Green Arrow was."

"What are you talking about?" Bruce asked guiltily.

"I told you before, that I worked with him, how he was, you knew when you saw him in that alley that he didn't mug me." Chloe said.

"Maybe I did." Bruce smiled. "Maybe I just wanted to give him a hard time." She glared and he sighed. "I'm sorry."

"Why are boys so stupid?" Chloe asked finally giving in and leaning against him. "He wants to meet you." Chloe said as they swayed to music that no one could hear in the entryway of Wayne Manor.

"Why?" Bruce said confused.

"Well not you, Batman." Chloe yawned. "And I don't know, just asked me to set up a meeting."

"Ok." Bruce said. "I'll see when Batman's free." He kissed her forehead and she sighed.

"I'm exhausted." She leaned her head onto his chest. "And my feet are killing me." She pulled her shoes off and stretched her toes.

Bruce smiled down at her. "Stay here tonight." He whispered in her ear.

"Hmm." Chloe said thinking about it. She couldn't be sure how much of this request was because of Oliver and how much was because of her, and in the same vein she wasn't sure how much of her answer was because of Oliver and how much was because of Bruce. "It's really far from the office." She pointed out. "How are you gonna make that worth my while."

"I'm sure I can think of something." Bruce smiled down at her and Chloe raised her eyebrows at him. "Business first with you, as always." He sighed. "Ok, I'll have Alfred make you his famous Belgium waffles in the morning."

"With cream cheese and strawberries?" Chloe asked smiling at the thought.

"With whatever you want." Bruce assured her. "And if you absolutely must go into the office tomorrow, which is Saturday by the way."

"Papers do come out on Sunday, our biggest day in fact." Chloe reminded him.

"Then I'll personally take you to the office." He said. "I've got some things I can do in the city."

"Deal." Chloe said.

* * *

The meeting between Batman and Green Arrow, on the roof of the Gazette building, couldn't have been more of a disaster, two boys fighting over a toy and that toy was Chloe. She had the urge to slap both of them hard enough that maybe some sense would get in but she wouldn't do that, not when they were in the suits, she wouldn't undermine what they stood for, and she'd wait until she got both of them alone. She could smack Bruce and she could definitely smack Oliver. As she suspected Oliver, even with the animosity he seemed to hold for Batman wanted to offer him a place on the team, and Bruce as she suspected declined, citing the fact that he wasn't really a team player. A few more insults, a few more times Chloe had to catch herself from hitting one or both of them and the meeting was over.

Oliver and Bruce, when put together we're no better than Batman and Green Arrow. Their coffee date consisted of the both of them trying to remember and tell stories that put the other in the worst possible light while Chloe was stuck in the middle with a headache the size of Texas. The only thing that saved them was behind the ribbing, Chloe could tell that they were really good friends once and that on some level they each regretted letting the friendship slide.

Oliver stayed in Gotham for two weeks on business and by the time he left, the stories had gotten less incriminating and more praising. The teasing seemed less biting and more good natured and Chloe was enjoying being able to openly and freely hang out with Oliver, laughing with him, eating with him, enjoying his company. All of this time together only caused one fight between Chloe and Bruce about the amount of time she spent with him, or after he'd gone back to Star City, how much time she spent on the phone with him. It was that fact more than anything which helped Chloe to realize that their relationship wasn't going to make it outside of Gotham City. That coupled with the fact that she couldn't muster up the anger at the amount of time that Bruce, and Batman for that matter spent with Rachel Dawes. There would be no late night phone calls when she moved to Star City, no long distance dating. She would sell him the paper, they would break up, as friends though, and of that she had no doubt, seeing as they both knew the others deepest, darkest, and secret.

She knew that Bruce knew it too; he just didn't want to acknowledge it. The day her reign as editor hit the six month mark, they finalized the sale of the paper. The Gotham Gazette was once again locally owned. Chloe promoted Randall to Editor in Chief, a more fitting job for him as he got older, plus she knew that he was too much of a hard ass to ever bow down to the mob or the government. Two days later she was standing in a now empty penthouse apartment, her stuff on its way to Star City, explaining to Bruce how they just weren't going to work.

"Is this about Batman?" Bruce asked not daring to look at her.

"No." Chloe laughed. "Trust me I have no problem with the double identity, secret life of a superhero."

"Is this about Oliver?" Bruce asked looking up this time.

"No." She shook her head knowing that for once, what she was doing right now, was not about Oliver. "It's not. Oliver and I are just friends."

Bruce chuckled. "No." He shook his head and stood up. "You and I are friends Chloe, great friends, we always will be. I don't know what you and Oliver are."

Chloe sighed. "I don't either." She admitted. "But we don't fit Bruce and you know that."

"I've known that for a while." He said to her smiling. "I was just hoping it would take you a little longer to figure it out."

"You and Rachel fit you know." Chloe said to him. "Far better than we ever did."

"Rachel and I…" Bruce trailed off.

"Yeah." Chloe smiled.

"This isn't going to make things weird?" Bruce asked hopefully.

"Oh things will be weird." Chloe said. "But I was never one to shy away from weird." She reminded him.

"Neither am I." Bruce smiled and kissed her softly. "Don't be a stranger."

"Couldn't if I tried." Chloe assured him.

"You're going to be great in Star City." Bruce said.

Chloe laughed uneasily. "I'd settle for not disastrous."

"No you wouldn't." Bruce said to her. "You don't settle." He looked around the apartment and noticed a fairly large flower arrangement on the kitchen counter. "What's with the flowers?"

"Going away present." Chloe said. "From Maroni." Bruce sighed.

"Only you." He said laughing before turning to leave. Chloe smiled sadly as he walked to the door. It opened before he got there. "The car's here." Elizabeth said looking between the two of them uneasily.

"I'll walk you out." Bruce said smiling and took her arm. "When will you get to Star City?"

"A few months still." Chloe said pushing the ground floor button. "I've still got a couple of other papers to check out, shouldn't take too long, most of them are doing pretty good. My first stop is…" She turned to Elizabeth.

"New York." She said.

"Great city." Bruce smiled. "You know they got their own superhero. Spiderman."

"I've heard about him." Chloe said. "You know him?"

"Never met the guy." Bruce shrugged. "But he's doing good work." The stepped out into the lobby and nodded at the guards. "Knowing you and your ability to piss people off and your need for rescues, I'd say you'll probably meet him within 12 hours?" He looked to Elizabeth for confirmation of his estimate and she tried to stifle her laughter and avert her head as she walked to the car. "See you Woodward." Bruce kissed her forehead.

"See you." She smiled and sighed. "Tell Batman to give 'em hell for me."

"I'll pass along the message." He assured her.


	8. Chapter 8

**Inturlude: Chloe in New York**

"You gonna be in New York for a while?" Oliver asked Chloe as she got settled in her hotel room.

"A few weeks. Edwards got about ten papers in the city." She sat down at her desk and opened up her computer. "Why?"

"I was hoping you could do me a favor." Chloe paused her typing.

"What kind of favor?"

"You think you could track down that Spiderman who's been in all the papers?" Oliver asked. "I'd like to talk with him."

"Gonna offer him a place on the team?" Chloe smiled.

"Something like that." Oliver said.

"Well I can find him." She grabbed a file folder. "But from what I can get of this Spiderman, he seems to think New York's his territory. Probably not much of a team player."

"Just like Clark." Oliver sighed. "I'd like to talk to him anyway."

"Sure I'll get right on that." She looked through the file. "I've got to visit the Daily Bugle tomorrow anyway, apparently their photographer has some special relationship with the guy, well he's the one getting all the pictures anyway."

"I owe you one Watchtower." Oliver said.

"Yeah, you owe me like fifty at this point." Chloe hung up the phone and sighed. "Another superhero, just what I need."

* * *

"Mr. Jameson, Chloe Sullivan is here to see you." Jameson sighed and handed Peter a voucher. 

"Great." He sighed. "Just what I need right now."

"Who's Chloe Sullivan?" Peter asked.

"She owns the paper." Robertson said.

"Hello." A petite blonde woman walked in the office. "I'm sorry I didn't realize you were in a meeting." She turned to leave and Jameson held up a hand.

"We're finished here." He looked at Peter. "These are crap, get me better ones." Peter just nodded and stood up. "Get these to copy." He handed the photos over to Robertson.

"Those more pictures of Spiderman?" Chloe asked holding out her hand. Robertson handed them over and she flipped through them. "These are really good shots."

Jameson smiled. "Peter here's got some kind of exclusive deal with the guy."

"Do you?" Chloe looked up at Peter. "That's great. Gives us quite an edge over the competition."

"That's why I hired him." Jameson said and Peter shot him a look.

"Good job." Chloe handed the photos back.

Jameson stared at Peter and Robertson. "Don't you two have work to do?" They both jumped up and walked out of the room.

Chloe smiled at them and then sat down. "Mr. Jameson." She put her hands in her lap. "I want to start off on a good foot. I'm not here to change your paper, fire a bunch of people or anything like that. You're circulations good, your papers putting out quality." She almost swallowed that one; she had a real problem with all the "Spiderman is a menace" stories. "I'm just here to take a look around, see the in's and out's, just check it out."

"Well." Jameson smiled. "That sounds good."

"I'd like to tour the paper, just get the lay of the land first thing." She stood up.

"I'll get Robertson…" He grabbed his phone.

"I want Peter Parker." Chloe said. "I want to talk to him about this Spiderman fellow."

"Spiderman huh?" Jameson looked at her then nodded and pushed a button. "Has Parker left yet?"

"No sir. He's getting his check." The secretary said.

"Send him back in here." Jameson slammed the phone down and grabbed a cigar.

Chloe looked around the office until Peter popped his head back in. "You wanted to see me sir?"

"Yeah, I want you to give Miss Sullivan here a tour of the paper." Jameson said.

"A tour of the paper?" Peter looked at Chloe confused. "But I…"

"She asked for you personally." He glared at Peter hoping he would get the "Don't piss off the owner" vibe he was going for.

"Sure sir." Peter stepped into the room. "I'd love to."

"Great." Chloe said. "We could start now if you don't have somewhere else you've got to be."

No, my schedule is clear." Peter smiled. "Right this way." Chloe nodded at Jameson and let Peter lead her out of the office.

They walked for a little while in silence. "Here is the room where the writers, well write."

"The bull pen." Chloe offered. "That's what we call it. The bull pen."

"Oh." Peter ducked his head. He glanced at Chloe and then stopped sheepishly. "You know I don't actually do much work here, at the paper…I don't even know where anything is."

"I figured as much." Chloe smiled. "It doesn't matter, once you've seen one newspaper office you've seen dozens."

"Then why did you?" He looked confused.

"I wanted to talk to you." Chloe said steering him to where she hoped the copy room was, it would be loud in there.

"About what?" Peter asked.

"Spiderman." Chloe said closing the door behind her as the presses whirled in the background. "I hear you and he are friends?"

"We…know each other." Peter said.

"Pretty well I assume." Chloe pointed out. "What from the quality of pictures you've been putting out."

"Well he figures people are gonna try and get shots of him, if he lets me do it, he won't get mobbed every time he's out." Peter shrugged.

"Yeah but this is the Daily Bugle. He could have gone to the staff photographer at the New York Times, bigger paper, bigger circulation, from what I've read they don't seem to be so…prejudice against him either."

"Well…" Peter sighed not sure what to say.

"So I'd say you guys have to be pretty good friends for him to put with that." Chloe tilted her head and Peter searched for something to say.

"I don't know who he is." Peter finally said.

"I'm not asking you to tell me…" Chloe sighed. "I'd like to talk to him."

"You want to talk to Spiderman?" Peter looked at her. "He doesn't do interviews."

"Well he should." Chloe said. "But that's not why I want to talk to him."

"Oh." Peter seemed even more confused.

"You heard of the Green Arrow?" Chloe asked.

"The guy in Star City?" Peter wracked his brain for information. "Dresses in Green, likes a bow and arrow over a gun?"

"That's him." Chloe said. "He's got a message he wants me to pass on."

"You know the Green Arrow?" Peter's eyes got huge.

"We had our own arrangement when I worked at the Planet in Metropolis, not unlike you and Spiderman." Chloe pulled out a business card and handed it to Peter. "Could you just give him that for me, the next time you see him?"

"Sure thing." Peter said. "Uh, do we have to finish the tour?"

"No." Chloe smiled. "But I'll make sure to tell Mr. Jameson that you were the perfect host."

"Thanks." Peter smiled and walked out of the room.

* * *

Chloe was ready for it, Superhero's were never much for calling and making appointments, they followed you around until you were alone and then dropped in on you. As much as Chloe was expecting it she almost jumped ten feet in the air when a man dropped down in front of her as she made her way back to her apartment later that night. She made herself proud that she only flinched a little. "Spiderman." She smiled at him. 

"I heard you had a message for me." He said.

"Yeah I…" She looked at him. "Are we gonna do this thing with you upside down?" She tilted her head. "Cause its a little distracting."

He chuckled and then pulled himself up. Chloe glared until he was falling back down to the ground, right side up. "Better?"

"Much." Chloe smiled. "So how's your night been?" She looked around. "I'm not keeping you from anything more…important?"

"No." He shrugged as she continued her walk toward her penthouse. "I broke up a few muggings on the way over, no big deal."

"Does modesty come with the superpowers?" Chloe laughed. "Every one of you guys are all the same." She kept glancing over at him; something was just so familiar about the guy.

"You know many of "us guys"?" Spiderman asked.

"I know my fair share." Chloe said.

"Like the Green Arrow?" Spiderman reminded her and Chloe noticed that as they walked he was searching the streets back and forth, looking out for trouble.

"Like the Green Arrow." Chloe nodded. "Which brings me to the point of this meeting. He'd like to talk to you."

"What about?" Spiderman asked and could tell Chloe was weighing her words carefully. "I know you know."

"Yeah but he really likes to do the whole speech thing, I can't take that away from him." Chloe smiled.

"How do I know this isn't some trap?" Spiderman asked. "I've read about him you know. Vengeful vigilante they call him."

"You know better than to believe everything you read." Chloe stopped in front of a building. "Well this is me." Spiderman looked up at the building. "So can I set something up?"

"I'll get back to you." He smiled before releasing a web and swinging himself up to the top of the building.

Chloe watched him swing away and then walked up to the door as the doorman let her in. He didn't even comment on her choice in escorts home, or his exit. They just saw too much weird stuff in New York for it to faze him.

* * *

Weird abounded in New York City. Some guy, who the Daily Bugle has dubbed as Electro because he seemed to have control over Electricity, was terrorizing the city. There had been three blackouts since she'd been there alone. She was on her way to Jameson's office at the Daily Bugle, they had been printing more Spiderman and Electro articles, linking them as friends instead of enemies and as much as she said she wasn't going to interfere with the paper, Spiderman was doing good work and she hated to see him abused in the paper like that. "Hold the elevator." A frantic voice said and Chloe smacked the open button quickly. 

"Hey Peter." She smiled as the photographer jumped in the elevator, out of breath.

"You ok?" She asked taking in his sweat soaked shirt.

"Yeah just running late." He sighed catching his breath.

"Me too." She smiled at him. "I was supposed to meet Jameson thirty minutes ago." Peter looked up at her and smiled. "I wanted to thank you…for setting up that meeting with Spiderman."

"I just gave him the message." Peter shrugged. "He decided whether he wanted to show or not." Peter glanced at her. "So did you tell him what you needed?"

"Yeah, I still don't have an answer though." Chloe sighed. "You think you could ask him to speed up his thought process? It's not like I'm gonna be in the city forever."

"I'll have a word with him about it." Peter chuckled. He held the elevator open for her as they reached the top floor and they walked together to Jameson's office.

"Where the hell is Parker?" He was screaming through the door.

"See that's the difference. You're late, no big deal, I'm late…" He motioned to the door as Jameson opened the door and looked out.

"Damn it Parker, I go to print in thirty minutes, do you have the pictures." Peter nodded and they all filed into Jameson's office. He grabbed the envelope from Peter and started to flip through the shots. "You don't have any of him with this Electro guy?"

"It's not like I know where he's gonna attack Mr. Jameson."

"Why not?" Jameson slammed the papers down on the table. "I guess these will do." He wrote out a receipt for the picture and was handing them over as the lights flickered and then went out completely. "Not again." Jameson screamed.

Chloe walked over to the window and sighed. "It's the whole block at least, maybe more."

"This guy is a menace…" The lights flickered back on and Jameson was standing there holding Peter's receipt out but Peter wasn't there. "Where's Parker?"

Chloe turned around and shrugged and then Spiderman flew past the window.

* * *

She visited a few of the other papers, some not so well off as the Bugle but most doing all right. You basically had to be dead in New York City to not sell papers. "He hasn't gotten back to me yet." Chloe explained to Oliver as she walked home, debating on what to get for diner. 

"Talk to this Parker guy again would you." Oliver said. "I really want to talk to Spiderman."

"You can't come on to strong. It's like going after a woman; you can't just keep calling her and calling her. You've got to give her time, to make up her mind and come after you." Chloe laughed.

"Oh, really? Is that how you go after women?" Oliver smirked. "I didn't know that."

"Don't be such a brat." Chloe had a very strong desire to stick her tongue out at him but before she could she was flat on the ground. "Oh." She looked around confused.

"I'm so sorry, I wasn't paying attention, I should have…" Chloe looked up at the guy who bumped into her. "Miss Sullivan?"

"Peter?" Chloe grabbed the hand he held out to her and she allowed him to help her up.

"Chloe…Chloe are you all right?" Oliver was screaming over the phone.

"I'm fine." She said absentmindedly. "I'll call you back." She looked over at Peter and the girl he was with. "Fancy meeting you here." She brushed off her pants.

"I'm so sorry Miss Sullivan." He smiled at her. "I didn't hurt you did I?"

"No." She shook her head. "I'm fine, don't worry about it, I should have been paying attention. And don't call me Miss Sullivan, I'm probably just as old as you, Chloe's fine."

The girl coughed. "Oh I'm sorry, Chloe this is Mary Jane Watson, Mary Jane, this is Chloe Sullivan, she owns the Daily Bugle."

"Nice to meet you." Mary Jane held out her hand and Chloe shook it.

"You too." Chloe said. "Peter, I actually wanted to talk to you about…"

"Give me your money and your jewelry." A voice said from behind them. They all turned and froze when they saw the three guys with guns.

"Come on." One of the guys without a gun smacked Chloe in the face and she fell to the ground. Mary Jane ran over to her to check her out.

"Ok." Chloe said. "Just calm down." She sighed wondering how in a city full of a million people she was always getting mugged. If her luck held however...

"Leave them alone." A voice said and the men turned around to see Spiderman hanging in the alley.

"It's Spiderman." One guys said.

"No shit Sherlock." The guy with the gun said. "Get him."

Mary Jane grabbed a Kleenex from her purse and handed it to Chloe. She pressed it up against her lip to stop the bleeding. "You ok?" She asked.

"Fine." Chloe said watching Spiderman. Then she looked around. "Where's Peter?"

Mary Jane bit her lip and Chloe looked at her confused. "He went for help." She finally said and Chloe paused then looked over at Spiderman. Her lips curled slightly and then she made sure to wipe the smile off of her face quickly before Mary Jane noticed it. The voice, the build, the fact that he disappeared right when trouble seemed to happen.

"Good, ok." Mary Jane helped her up and they watched as Spiderman dispatched the muggers quickly.

"Ladies." He said to them. "You should be a little more careful." He titled his head and then shot a web and was gone.

"Hey you guys ok?" A policeman asked running up to them.

"Fine." Chloe watched Spiderman, or rather, Peter Parker swing away from them. "We're fine, they didn't take anything."

* * *

Chloe wondered for a second if this was gonna be too much, but the truth of the matter was Spiderman was dragging his feet and all she was asking for was a meeting. Peter walked in the apartment and shrugged off his jacket. "Peter." Chloe flipped on the lamp beside the chair she was sitting in. 

"Miss…Chloe." Peter said turning around. "What are you…how did you get in here?"

"I need an answer." She said. "Green Arrows coming to town in a few days, on business he really wants to talk to you."

"I thought he wanted to talk to Spiderman." Peter said.

"You are Spiderman." Chloe pointed out. Peter's eyes got huge. "Don't worry; I'm not going to say anything."

"I don't understand…how did you?" He sat down heavy.

"When you've been around as many superheroes with secret identities as I have you pick up a few things." She smiled. "Like how you always disappear right before Spiderman shows up, or the way you slouch just a bit when as Peter Parker, how you get close enough to him to get all those great shots."

"I…how do I know I can trust you?" Peter asked anxiously.

"You don't." Chloe said. "Not for sure. Look I've been keeping so many secrets for so many years, and as a former reporter…that says quite a lot, hell maybe that's my superpower." Peter chuckled. "I don't want anything from you, I don't want to use you, I'm not gonna hold this above your head. I just want you to listen to Green Arrow, hear what he has to say and then…maybe make a decision in a timely fashion."

Peter looked at her for a bit and then sighed. "Ok, I'll meet with him."

"Great. Maybe now he'll stop calling me." She stood up. "He hasn't left me alone for two weeks. "Did you talk to Spiderman?" "When are you going to talk to Spiderman?" "Why hasn't he given you and answer yet?" He's driving me crazy."

"Sorry about that." Peter shrugged.

"No problem." She walked to the door. "I'll be in touch."

* * *

Two weeks later Chloe was on the roof of the Daily Bugle building, working out in her head a way to find some sort of correlation between superheroes and rooftops, waiting. She heard the familiar sound of an arrow whizzing past her and sighed. "You're late…" Chloe glared as Green Arrow pulled himself up on the roof. 

"Well looks like our friendly neighborhood Spiderman is too." Green Arrow jumped on the roof and smiled. "Good to see you Watchtower."

Chloe rolled her eyes and gave him a hug. "He'll be here, he's got this whole city to take care of you know."

"It has to be the city that never sleeps too." Spiderman said swinging onto the rooftop. "One day a month, that would work for me."

"You must be Spiderman." Green Arrow stepped forward and held out his hand.

"I guess I must be." Spiderman shook his hand and nodded at Chloe. "And you're the Green Arrow."

"The one and only." Oliver smiled and Chloe rolled her eyes.

"Miss Sullivan said you wanted to talk to me about something?" Spiderman asked.

"Miss Sullivan?" Green Arrow turned to Chloe and raised his eyebrows.

"It's called manners, you should learn some." Chloe snapped at him.

"Oh I should learn some, you have no respect for me." Green Arrow crossed his arms over his chest.

"You want respect?" Chloe scoffed. "How about you quit treating me like your errand boy. Sending me to set up your meetings."

"Can you two kids fight later?" Spiderman said. "I don't have a lot of time here."

"Right sorry." Green Arrow glared at Chloe, he may have had sunglasses on but she could tell he was doing it anyway. "The reason I wanted to talk to you. I've got a team going; we're working on a name…"

"I thought you liked Justice League." Chloe interrupted.

"I do like it, I'm just still thinking about it." Green Arrow said and then turned back to Spiderman. "Anyway, was hoping you'd consider joining up."

"A team?" Spiderman said confused. "I don't really understand. What does this team do?"

"Well." Green Arrow leaned against the railing. "We fight injustice. There's more in this world that could use your help than muggers and petty criminals."

"I don't just do muggers and petty criminals." Spiderman crossed his arms over his chest.

"He's doing it wrong, he always does it wrong." Chloe turned and glared at him. "Why do you have to insult them, all the time with the insulting?" She stepped up and pulled something out of her bag, a file. She handed it to Spiderman who took it a looked through it.

"What is this?" He asked staring at pictures of Lex's lab, people being experimented on.

"That's what we fight against." Chloe said. "Lex Luther takes people, people like you, people with abilities and he experiments on them, he tortures them, he dissects them." Her voice was different now, gone was the teasing tone she had taken with the Green Arrow.

"Why?" Spiderman handed the file back.

"Because he can?" Chloe shrugged. "Because he wants to control the powers, duplicate them use them for his own twisted reasons, we don't really care about the why, we just want to stop him."

"So what do you say?" Green Arrow asked. "Want to join up?"

"I think what you're doing is great." Spiderman said. "But this is my city, this is my home, they need me here."

"The world needs you." Green Arrow countered.

"I want to help you, if you ever need something, back up you can call but I've got to stay here." He said.

Green Arrow opened his mouth and Chloe elbowed him in the ribs. "I understand." He said through clenched teeth.

"Help!" Someone screamed from a few blocks over.

"I'll take this one." Green Arrow said. "You've cleaned up this town, I haven't had much to do all night, give you a break."

"Have at it." Spiderman said and Green Arrow swooped off the building.

"He's got a team?" Spiderman said to Chloe.

"Don't make fun; they do a lot of good." Chloe said. "He gets a little passionate about what he does."

"And what is it that you do?" Spiderman asked.

"What do you mean?" Chloe asked.

"What's your role in all this?" Spiderman asked. "You're more than just a newspaper owner, high society girl."

"I don't know what you mean?" Chloe shrugged.

"Go on." Green Arrow said, back on the rooftop. "Tell him Watchtower."

"Watchtower?" Spiderman raised his eyebrows.

"You can know ever else's secrets and no one can know yours?" Green Arrow pointed out.

They both turned and looked at her. "That's so not fair, you can't gang up on me like that." Chloe glared. "I'm just the computer whiz." She shrugged. "I do all the information gathering."

"Don't be so modest." Green Arrow walked forward. "If I ever said you were just the computer whiz you would have smacked me. She's the brains of the operation." Green Arrow told Spiderman. "Keeps us together, on task, alive."

"I'm sure she does." Spiderman laughed. "Like I said, I like what you guys are doing but I can't leave New York."

"I get it, had to offer." Green Arrow shook his hand again. "It was good to meet you."

"You too." Spiderman said. "Well I got to go, no rest for the weary." He shot a web and was gone.

"Nice guy." Green Arrow said. "A little on the goody goody side, kind of like Boy Scout."

"Don't make fun." Chloe said walking to the roof access door. "You want to get some dinner?"

"Yeah, just let me change. I think Spiderman's got this city covered." He grabbed his Arrow out of the wall on the way out and Chloe chuckled. "You're not sleeping with this one too are you?"

Chloe couldn't help it, Green Arrow costume and all she slapped him as hard as she could on the side of his head.

* * *

"Everything's going good here." Chloe smiled at Jameson on her last day in New York. "Circulation and ad revenues are up from last year. No complaints from corporate as far as the business side is concerned. " 

"What does that mean?" Jameson asked.

"Well…" Chloe looked over at Jameson's secretary who was chatting with Peter Parker.

"Well what?" Jameson asked.

"I know you think I'm some punk kid who got a couple of newspapers for Christmas and is having fun playing with them." The expression on his face showed that that was exactly what he thought. "But I know the business, I now the job. You need to stop with the Spiderman is a villain angle, it's obvious the city doesn't agree with you and you're only going to end up isolating yourself from the people and hurt your bottom line." She stood up. "And I tried to get a shot of Spiderman the other day, that guy's pretty elusive; you're not paying Parker enough."

"What do you mean?" Jameson asked confused.

"I mean I want you to triple whatever you're giving him now, it's near impossible to get those shots and he's delivering on a regular basis, the only edge you have with the New York Times and The Post. Triple it, or your going to lose him and that would really be bad for your bottom line." Chloe said. "If you don't have room in the budget, I can take care of it."

"Ok." Jameson looked at Robertson who shrugged.

"Starting now." She raised her eyebrows and nodded to his secretary.

He glared and picked up the phone. "Emily, triple what you're giving Peter."

"What?" Emily looked up into the office.

"Don't ask questions, Miss Sullivan wants it tripled so just triple it." Jameson slammed the phone down.

"It was nice doing business with you." Chloe got up and walked out of the office nodding at Peter as she left.

"What's this?" Peter asked looking at the check.

"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth Peter." Emily smiled.

"But this is triple what I normally get." Peter said.

"Hey orders from the boss." Emily shrugged.

"Mr. Jameson?" Peter looked into the office at the man who was screaming at someone on the phone.

"I guess I should say orders from the boss's boss." Emily smiled.

Peter looked over at Chloe who was getting into the elevator and ran. "Hey, hold the elevator." Peter said and Chloe pushed the button.

"Running late again?" She asked.

"No I just…wanted to talk to you." Peter said holding up the check.

"Oh." Chloe looked at the check. "What?"

"You don't need to do this…I don't take charity." He handed the check to her.

"It's not charity Peter. You don't get recognition from anyone for what you do, this city, the people, no one. It's hard living a double life and part of the perks of Green Arrows team is a pretty good salary. If you won't join the team, at least let me make one thing easier on you. Besides, this is what you'd make at the New York Times or well any other paper without a tight wad for an editor." Peter chuckled as she handed the check back to him.

"Thanks." Peter said.

"It's no big deal." Chloe said. "Really. It's the least I could do."

"Does modesty come with your job?" Peter asked, throwing her words back in her face.

"Hey I'm not the one out there, fighting the bad guys, putting my life in danger. I help how I can, money may not be important when some villain holds the city hostage, but it's nice to have an apartment and a full fridge when you get home from a long day of saving the planet."

The elevator doors opened and Chloe stepped out. "Thanks." Peter said folding up the check and putting it in his pocket.

* * *

A/N Next Chapter Chloe and Oliver together in Star City!


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: As promised, here it is, Chloe and Oliver together again in Star City, hope you enjoy! By the way I love the feedback, it just makes me want to write faster and get things out sooner so great job guys.

* * *

"So you're officially in Star City?" Oliver asked Chloe as she relaxed on the balcony of her new penthouse apartment in downtown Star City.

"I'm officially in Star City." Chloe said smiling, amazed at all they had done to get her to this place. She'd been to Chicago, San Francisco, Dallas, New Mexico, and countless other cities since she left New York, checking on the papers before she finally made it Star City, her new home.

"Well as first official act of your residency here, I would like to take you out to a very public lunch tomorrow." Oliver said. "How's that sound?"

"Sounds fantastic." Chloe sighed.

"What are you doing on your balcony?" Oliver asked confused.

"How do you know I'm on the balcony?" Chloe sat up straighter and looked around.

"In your yummy sushi pajamas?" You could hear the chuckle in his voice.

"Ok, this is creepy. Queen Towers is on the other side of this building. Are you out as Green Arrow being pervy?" She looked around at the rooftops surrounding her.

"No." He smiled. "I'm in your living room being pervy."

She turned around so fast she almost dropped the phone. "Oliver." She smiled brightly and ran through the open doors to hug him. "What are you doing here?"

"Well lunch tomorrow is great but I thought we'd celebrate your first night here." He held up the bag in his hand. "A little chocolate cake, some popcorn, and a movie. A private celebration before the circus starts."

"Perfect." She nodded and he walked to the kitchen to unload. He opened a bottle of her wine and handed her a glass as they made their way to the couch. "What movie did you get?"

"Don't hit me." He smiled at her and handed the case over.

"Perfect." She laughed settling herself in on the couch next to him. "I haven't seen this in…well since I watched it with you. Four years ago."

"Has it been four years?" He asked getting comfortable as she got up to put the movie in.

"Yep." Chloe sad sitting back down next to him. "Look how far we've come."

"How far you've come." He corrected herself.

"Don't kid yourself Oliver Queen." Chloe nudged his shoulder. "You are not the same man you were back then."

"Don't say that." He groaned.

"Four years ago, would have ever, ever, been sitting on your couch on a Friday night watching My Fair Lady?" Chloe prompted.

"Only with complete understanding that I would be getting lucky." He relented.

"Exactly." Chloe smiled. "Face it. You've matured, you've mellowed out."

"Stop." He pleaded with her.

She pulled her phone off the table and wiggled it in front of him. "I've got at least ten numbers on here, ten who would fulfill your criteria of absolute certain nookie." She raised an eyebrow. "A few of which, would completely surprise you."

Oliver looked at the phone and the look on Chloe's face and smiled. "Nah, I'm beat."

"You sure?" She asked taking a sip of her wine. "Hell half of them wouldn't even make you watch the movie."

"But I want to watch the movie." Oliver pointed out.

"Ok." Chloe put the phone down. "Go make the popcorn then." He smiled and set down his wine glass to go make the popcorn. "And don't forget the extra salt." She screamed at him. "Or the chocolate cake."

"Nag, nag, nag." Oliver smiled as he walked back in the room a few minutes later. "We aren't even in our fake relationship yet.

"Well I gotta train you early." He handed Chloe her chocolate cake and a fork and sat back down on the couch with the popcorn bowl in his lap. "It'll make things so much easier later on."

"Hmm." Oliver looked at Chloe then at her phone. "I think I want those numbers now."

"Oh no." Chloe laughed. "You had your chance, watch the movie."

Oliver stuffed a handful of popcorn in his mouth then turned to Chloe again. "Who would surprise me?"

"Hm?" She asked her attention on the movie.

"You said a few of them would surprise me?" She turned to him annoyed. "It's Sarah Masterson right?"

"Please." Chloe rolled her eyes. "Would that really surprise you?"

"No I suppose not." Oliver thought for a minute while Chloe took a bite of her cake. "Abby? Huh?"

There was a pause before Chloe scoffed. "No."

"You paused, it's totally Abby." Oliver smiled.

"It wasn't a pause I was chewing." Chloe protested.

"Like you never talk with your mouthful. Princess Abby wants my body." Oliver smirked at her.

"Shut up and watch the movie."

"No, this is fun." Oliver said. "Now you said a few so let's see who else, besides Abby of course. Jennifer Taylor, she's always looking at me funny, I thought she didn't like me but I bet it's because she wants to tear my clothes off."

"No, she just doesn't like you." Chloe laughed.

"Oh." Oliver seemed thrown by Chloe's candor. "Cecila Barrett." He snapped his fingers. "I almost asked her out once…"

"Who said they were all women?" Chloe raised an eyebrow. "Now watch the movie."

Oliver froze and turned to stare at her. "That's not fair." He sat back deflated and looked at the television. "You took all the fun out of the game."

Chloe grabbed a handful of popcorn while Oliver pouted. Then he turned to her. "It's Spencer right? I mean I know you guys dated for a while and all but that was probably just a smoke screen, he wants me."

"Jeez Oliver." She sighed. "Watch the movie."

"Hey." He said nudging her a few minutes later. "I've got a surprise coming for you tomorrow, so try and get home early ok?"

"What?" She turned on him. "You can't do that." She slapped his arm. "You can't just casually be all "I've got a surprise for you tomorrow" that's not fair, in what universe is that fair. Do you honestly think I'll be able to get any work done tomorrow?"

"Chloe." Oliver laughed. "Watch the movie."

"No. What is it?" She smiled. "Is it a car? No, I live in the same building I work, what do I need a car for."

"Watch the movie." He said. "You'll never guess."

"Is it a new charm?" She held her bracelet and jangled it. "No, you always hide those somewhere and you never tell me ahead of time." She pouted a little while thinking.

"Is it a pony?" She jumped up and smiled enthusiastically at him. "I've always wanted a pony."

"Yes Chloe, it's a pony." Oliver said deadpanned. "Now watch the movie."

"It's not a pony." She frowned sitting down. "Unless." She turned to him excited. "You're just saying it like that because it is a pony but you don't want me to know it's a pony."

"It's not a pony." Oliver reassured her.

"Oliver that's completely impractical. I can't have a pony in the city." She shook her head at him as if he was stupid. "Where am I going to put a pony? I don't even have a parking space for my nonexistent car."

"It's not…" He turned to her exasperated to see her trying to repress a smile. "Ok, I'll bring the pony back and get another surprise." He patted her leg.

"Now I have to guess the new surprise." She told him a little annoyed.

"Watch the movie or no surprise at all." He informed her and she mimed zipping her mouth, locking it, and throwing away the key. "Good girl."

* * *

Her first day at her new office wasn't as hectic as she thought it would be, it was the middle of the month so there was no scramble to finish a big project nor was there the first of the month scramble to jump start a new project. She took a tour of the offices with one of her assistants and met all the department heads before having an extremely large binder dumped on her desk containing ever piece of information known to man. She smiled weakly at Bethany, the woman who was supposed to be her personal assistant but got bumped down to office assistant when Elizabeth showed up in tow and was letting her feelings on the matter be shown in very passive aggressive ways. "I'm going to have to fire her aren't I?" Chloe asked Elizabeth a little annoyed." Elizabeth just smiled and left to go get situated in her own office.

Chloe's office actually consisted of an entire floor. There was her office in the very back space, with Elizabeth's office right outside and then outside of Elizabeth's office was the rest of the floor filled with work spaces and conference tables that housed her other assistants. "Fifteen assistants Oliver…that's like fourteen to many." She peered through the glass in Elizabeth's office to see Bethany stapling papers rather violently at her desk right in front of the door. Elizabeth was half listening to the conversation as she went through a duplicate copy of Chloe's binder, making notes and marking pages.

"I have…you know I might have more than fifteen assistants." He said distractedly. She could hear him typing over the phone. "I don't really deal with them much, mainly it's Cara or Ms. Humphries."

"I know." Chloe sighed. "Elizabeth said I probably won't even ever talk to them. They go through Bethany, who goes through Elizabeth who comes to me, so I'll probably just deal with Elizabeth and Bethany, who by the way I think I'm gonna have to fire which is a relief because that's just to many Beth's to deal with." Elizabeth just laughed. "Not that that's why I'm firing her, possibly firing her, but because she's being a major bitch. She was supposed to get Elizabeth's job but now she's stuck back where she was and she's oozing resentment across my floor."

"She's oozing resentment?" Oliver asked laughing.

"Well, she's acting really mean. Elizabeth wanted to know where the supply closet was because she likes those little post its with the lines in them you know and Bethany was acting all put out and then wouldn't show Elizabeth where the supply closet was, she got up to get the post its herself complaining loudly the whole time about having to do it when Elizabeth would have gladly done it herself had she known where the closet was."

"Uh huh." Oliver said trying to follow.

"And I think she's going around bad mouthing me to my assistants."

"You mean the assistants you don't think you need and will probably never talk to?" Oliver pointed out.

"That's hardly the point Oliver." Chloe looked out the window again and Elizabeth smiled as she marked another page in her binder. "I'm still their boss and they have to have some sort of respect for me and I'd really like it if they liked me but that is not gonna be possible with little Miss Snotty pants out there."

"Do you know for sure she's badmouthing you?" Oliver asked.

"Well no." Chloe conceded. "But she seems like the type. And I see her, over at the water cooler, talking to the others and then looking over at my door."

"Chloe, did you call me just to talk about your assistants?" Oliver said. "I like Elizabeth as much as the next person but did I really need to know she likes the post-its with the lines?"

"Well it's not like they're her favorite." Chloe scoffed. "I'm not saying if you're every wondering what to get her for Christmas or her birthday go with the lined post-it's, I'm just saying she prefers them to ones without lines."

"Chloe." Oliver smiled.

"I don't want to go to my office." She pouted.

"Why?" He asked.

"It's quiet in there. Too quiet. It's like this big room with just my desk in it and some furniture and it's creepy. I'm used to newspapers where everyone is in everyone's space or magazines where people just ignore doors. I have to go through two doors just to get to the main room." Oliver laughed. "Plus that binder is evil." She looked back at her desk and there it was mocking her.

"The binder is not evil." Oliver said and she could hear herself rolling her eyes.

"Oliver it's like a whole foot thick. They don't make binders like that. I know for two years I ordered the supplies at The Daily Planet, I know office supplies. They had to have these things special made, who does that? And before today I would have said that it was structurally impossible to stack paper that high but I was wrong."

"You don't have to go through the whole thing." Oliver said.

"Of course I do." Chloe snapped at him and then softened.

"When do you want to meet me for lunch?" He tried to change the subject.

"I don't know whenever Bethany leaves for her lunch." Chloe said. "I'm not going out there while she's still at that desk, stapling like I don't know what she's really doing."

"Chloe, she's your assistant, she's not going to go to lunch until after you do, and if you don't do it soon, she's going to complain about that to everyone." He sighed. "How about this, give me twenty minutes and I'll come get you, you can show me your evil office and everyone will be too stunned at the sight of Oliver Queen to worry about you."

"Fine." Chloe said. "What am I supposed to do for twenty minutes though?"

"What are you doing now?"

"Spying on Bethany." Chloe admitted. "You get a really good view of her desk from Elizabeth's couch."

She could hear Oliver laughing so hard on the other end he had to pull the phone away. "Do something productive, you don't like your office, fix it, move stuff around, I don't know, but it's just twenty minutes ok."

"Ok." Chloe sighed. "By the way, thanks for the charm." She looked down at her bracelet and smiled at the new charm. She'd come into her office and sitting in the middle of her desk was a small box with a little skyscraper charm in it.

"You're welcome." Oliver said sincerely.

"That's not my surprise is it?" She asked.

"No." Oliver said. "Now go to work." He hung up and Chloe looked down at her phone in annoyance.

"Elizabeth." Chloe turned to her. "Would it be possible to find out if Oliver made any serious purchases in the past couple of days?"

"Like what?" Elizabeth asked a smile on her face.

"I don't know, a new car, some large furniture…a pony." Chloe offered.

"It's not a pony." Elizabeth rolled her eyes and Chloe jumped up off the couch.

"Ah ha, so you know what this surprise is?" She crossed her arms over her chest and Elizabeth just looked up at her and smiled.

"I'm not telling, I promised Mr. Queen."

"You're my assistant." Chloe reminded her. Elizabeth just shook her head and went back to work. "When did you stop being afraid of me?" Chloe asked and Elizabeth laughed. "Fine, I'm going in my office. My horrible, creepy, lonely office." She walked to the door and Elizabeth didn't look up. "My giant, quiet, resent filled…"

"I've got a contractor coming in around three to look at the space." Elizabeth finally took pity on her. "I was thinking we'd tear down the walls and put up sliding glass doors or something so you could have them open or closed."

"You're an absolute genius you know that?" Chloe smiled.

"Go look through your binder." Elizabeth smiled at her.

* * *

"I definitely have to fire Bethany." Chloe sighed. "I'm gonna try and give it a week maybe, I don't want people to think I'm coming in there and just getting rid of people who have been around forever. Maybe I'll just transfer her, somewhere far, far, away from me."

Oliver laughed as they walked in the lobby of Chloe's building. "What did she do after you got back from lunch?" He let Chloe insert her key in the slot for the Penthouse Elevator.

"Nothing overt." Chloe sighed. "But she keeps turning people away from my office, people I need to talk to, she's telling them I'm far too busy to deal with them which I'm not and they know I'm not so it seems to them as if I'm telling her to do that. And she and Elizabeth got into a fight over the copy machine which was…" Chloe trailed off. "I don't want to talk about it." She rearranged the massive binder in her hands which she'd brought home to go over some more. When Oliver had seen it he raised his eyebrows and Chloe smirked in an "I told you so" manner.

"Good." Oliver said. "Because honestly, I didn't care." He said stepping into the elevator and waiting for Chloe to follow. She got in beside him and glared.

"I mean if she was trying to poison your lunch I'd be very interested in the story but…" Chloe was still glaring. "Oh come on, you start a new job in England and you have an entire magazine walk out on you. You take over the Gazette in Gotham and a mob boss continually tries to have you killed. You start work in Star City and your assistant's assistant staples too forcefully…how is that interesting?"

"You'll see." Chloe said to him, trying hard to hide her smile. "When she comes after me with a letter opener I'll be saying I told you so."

"Don't you think you're being overly dramatic here?" Oliver asked.

"I'm being overly dramatic?" Chloe scoffed as if it was ridiculous.

The elevator doors opened and she was about to say something else to Oliver when she heard what sounded like noise makers and she saw confetti fall to the ground in front of her. "Surprise." Three very excited voices said from her foyer and she smiled passing the enormous folder off to Oliver, which almost shoved him back into the elevator, and ran forward to give Victor a hug. She moved on to Bart, and then AC, then stood there smiling like an idiot.

"What are you guys doing here? When did you…how…"

"Talk to the boss man." Victor said nodding at Oliver who had managed to set the binder on the counter in the kitchen and turned around to observe the reunion.

Chloe smiled and ran over to hug him. "Thanks." She said in his ear then she pulled back and hugged the guys again.

"It's so awesome to see you guys, so catch me up, what's going on, what have you been doing? Where are you living?" She pulled AC over to the living room area and the other followed. "Tell me everything."

"Well." AC laughed sitting next to her on the couch. "We're living here actually." Chloe's eyes got huge. "Well not like here, here, at your place. Oliver got us an apartment in the building though, a few floors down, we're sharing."

"You're gonna be here? In the city? In my building?" She smiled bigger if that were even possible. "When did you do all this?"

"Well, I wasn't going to pass up the chance to have my whole team in one place." Oliver smiled. "Besides, one apartment is easier to manage than three."

Chloe smiled at him, unconvinced by his fiscal reasoning, more convinced that he just wanted them all here, together. "This is great." Chloe smiled at them. "So much better than a pony."

"Pony?" Bart looked at Chloe confused.

"Don't worry about it." Oliver said, not wanting to Chloe started on the whole pony thing again.

"You can't have a pony in the city." Victor said.

"That's what I said." Chloe smiled.

"I didn't get her a pony." Oliver threw his hands in the air.

"Where would she put a pony?" AC looked around the penthouse. "I mean this place is big but…pony worthy?"

"Pony's need to run free." Bart shook his head. "What were thinking man?"

"I didn't…" He started to protest.

"She doesn't even have a parking space." Victor shook his head.

Oliver froze his protest, remembering Chloe using that exact reason the night before and then he noticed the look on all of their faces, each and every one of them trying so hard not to laugh. "How did you she said…" He looked at Chloe who was smiling bigger than anyone. "You knew!"

"Of course I knew." Chloe smiled. "I'm a reporter." She got off the couch. "Before you blame Elizabeth, do you think it was really hard for me to find out that you'd bought three plane tickets from the last three places I knew these guys were living?"

"You suck with surprises you know." Oliver pointed out to her.

"Well if it makes you feel better, I didn't know about the apartment, or the plan to move here. That is an excellent surprise." She assured him.

"Well that's something I guess." Oliver sighed.

* * *

Chloe did end up firing Bethany, very loud and very publically after putting up with one too many passive aggressive complaints. She had been bad mouthing her at the water cooler she found out later which made her want to call Oliver and say "I told you so" but she managed to restrain herself. Her office got more comfortable after the renovations, and the room full of assistants became less of a daunting thing and more of a relaxed atmosphere, most of them confessing to Chloe that they'd always hated Bethany who considered herself above them all and that she only got the job because the company had nowhere to put her and they created the job especially for her.

Settling into Star City was far easier than she thought it would be, having Oliver so close, and the guys even closer, left her with little or no time to herself, especially with the hours she was putting in at work trying to get caught up but she didn't really mind it. It was sort of comforting to come home and find everyone huddled in her living room watching a movie, or waiting for her so they could go on a mission.

Oliver was playing his part well, constantly taking her out to lunch, managing to squeeze dinners and parties and banquets and concerts into both of their busy schedules so to the world it looked as if Oliver Queen had swept Chloe Sullivan off her feet, or rather, to the people that knew them both of them, that Chloe Sullivan had done the sweeping. Article after article came out speculating how long Oliver would remain on the most eligible bachelors list. New pictures were hitting the stands daily of the two of them which Bart found increasingly annoying and which Chloe had to find herself explaining.

The first one that popped up was to two of them having an intimate moment of star gazing while walking through the park.

_Chloe knew before moving that Star City was a beautiful place, the gleaming glass skyscrapers that somehow fit alongside the old world brick and mortar historical buildings took her breath away when she finally saw them in person. But seeing it through Oliver's eyes, hearing him describe his city, his home, the place he grew up with his parents and the place he vowed to clean up as he grew older somehow made everything better. Of course it wasn't all beautiful skylines or tours of the parks, like now for instance he was dragging her down the street, a little more excited that she thought he should be at whatever he wanted to show her. "Here" He stopped suddenly and she bumped into his back. _

"_Where here?" Chloe looked around the random downtown street practically deserted this time of night. "There is no here here." She pointed out to him. "I'm hungry Oliver. I thought you said we were going to dinner." _

"_We are." He pulled her in front of him. "I just wanted to show you this place." He looked over at building to their left. An office building, Insurance company according to the sign on the door. _

"_Are planning on buying an outrageous insurance policy on me only to kill me and collect the money?" She asked. _

_Oliver rolled his eyes. "Not there." He pointed up to the roof of the building. "There." He said._

"_Another roof." Chloe asked confused. "What is with you guys and roofs?" She threw her hand in the air, starving and exasperated with him. _

"_This is the roof where I first tested out the zip line." He said. "There, near the left corner, do you see a small hole in the bricks?" Chloe leaned closer to him and stared where he pointed. _

"_Yeah." She said. _

"_That's where the Arrow hit." He wrinkled his nose. "It's not what I was aiming for but I still wasn't used to the added weight of the cable." Chloe looked up at him and wondered, briefly if this is what it was like for other people when she went on and on about a computer program or a story she was investigating, confusion over why Oliver would ever think that she would get as excited as he was expecting her to be over a hole in a brick wall of an Insurance company, he didn't even hit his target._

"_Uh huh." Chloe said._

"_Ok, follow the hole down three bricks then to the left two." She tried to see the brick he was talking about. _

"_I think I got it." Chloe looked at it confused. _

"_That's where I busted my head open." He looked down at her. "I hadn't master controlling the speed yet." He pointed to a scar at the hair line of the left side of his face. "You can still see the blood; it stained the mortar around the brick." _

_Chloe looked back up and located the brick and sure enough the mortar around it seemed browner, darker than the rest of the building. She turned to him, still confused. "You dragged me out her to show me some of you're dried up blood?" She asked raising an eyebrow at him._

"_Well yeah." He said, completely oblivious to her annoyance and confusion. _

"_Oliver, is there a part of your brain stuck in the mortar up there?" She sighed realizing he honestly thought she'd want to see this place._

"_What?" He asked confused and she rolled her eyes. _

"_Come on, let's eat please, I'm starving." She slipped her arm in his and they turned around and headed back to the restaurant. _

"_After dinner, I'll show you the house where I accidently froze a family eating dinner testing out the Cryonic Arrow." He said excitedly. "We still didn't know how to thaw yet and they ended up sitting there for a whole day before we managed it." He thought for a second. "They didn't seem to think anything was wrong, we must have unthawed them around the same time we froze the, they just kept on eating. I wonder if they're still a whole day off from everyone else." _

* * *

The second one showed Chloe laughing while Oliver whispered in her ear at the Mayor's Inaugural Ball.

"_So this is a good guy?" Chloe sipped her champagne. "Not corrupt, no mob ties?" She looked around the room; everything and everyone looked very uprightly political and boring._

"_No, no corruption." He said. "None that I could find anyway." _

"_Well that's one less thing to worry about I guess." Chloe sighed. She was bored out of her mind. "I'm bored out of my mind." Chloe said. _

"_We can leave in a little while." Oliver said. "After the speech." _

"_Oliver Queen, glad you could make it, and who is this lovely lady?" A younger man than most of the people there, not including Oliver and herself, walked up and shook Oliver's hand very enthusiastically. _

"_Stanley Peters, this is Chloe Sullivan." His eyes lit up with recognition and shook her hand. "Stanley is Mayor Johnston's Chief of Staff; he's the one we have to thank for getting him elected." _

"_Couldn't have done it without the support of citizen's like you." Stanley shook off Oliver's praise._

"_I'm happy to help." Oliver assured him with a small, almost secret smile on his face. _

"_Damn, I've been trying to avoid Missy Walters all night, she's got a small gossip column in the Star Daily News, and I just don't feel like dealing with her, if you'll excuse me." He nodded at them then slipped into the crowd. _

"_What was that little smile about?" Chloe asked._

_Oliver looked around them and then pulled her a little further in the corner, away from the crowds. "One night, while on patrol, I see this guy standing on a balcony freezing his ass of in nothing but a pair of boxers. Being the rescuing hero I go over to see if he needs any help and it's Stanley." Chloe looked over at the Chief of Staff again and smiled. "He's standing there shaking, teeth chattering and I jump on the balcony and offer my assistance in getting him back into his apartment. Well he's really embarrassed by now and finally admits that it's not his apartment, it's his girlfriends and he's just hanging out on the balcony because her boyfriend stopped by unexpectedly."_

"_No." Chloe said smiling. _

"_So, none of my business right, I go back to work and on my way home, three hours later, he's still there, freezing his ass off on the balcony. He sees me and just nods as if it was no big deal." _

"_What did you do?" Chloe asked. _

"_I went home, he didn't want my help." Oliver said laughing. "I saw him a couple of days later, carrying around a box of tissues and popping cough drops like they were candy." Chloe just looked over, pictured him in his underwear, freezing on a fire escape and couldn't help but laugh herself._

_Soon it was uncontrollable and people were turning to stare at them, which only made them laugh harder until they had to excuse themselves from the party, afraid they would laugh through the whole speech._

* * *

"Explain that!" Bart had said slapping the paper down on the table making Chloe and Oliver roll their eyes. There were three pictures this time, one of Oliver and Chloe, stealing a kiss at the 100th year anniversary of the oldest hotel in Star City, as Oliver put a key card into a hotel room lock and another of Chloe half in the room, pulling a smiling Oliver in after her by his tie, and the third of them emerging from the room, clothes wrinkled, hair messed up grinning at each other like idiots. Bart glared and Chloe told him what happened.

"_You really think that Lex would be that stupid?" Chloe followed Oliver through the lobby smiling at people as they passed. "He knows this is the Green Arrow's territory why would he ship anything here, much less things related to 33.1?" Chloe asked as Oliver pushed the elevator button._

"_Because he's not stupid." Oliver said pulling her into the elevator and punching a button for the 16th floor. "He thinks that Green Arrow is arrogant…"_

"_Because he is." Chloe pointed out and Oliver glared at her. _

"_And that the Green Arrow would assume that Lex Luther would never dare to do anything like that in his territory, so he'd never suspect it." Oliver finished. "Plus, it has an added thrill of getting something past the Green Arrow." She'd grown accustomed to Oliver speaking about the Green Arrow as if he was a different person and Chloe had come to realize that he was. There was the Green Arrow and then there was Oliver Queen._

"_You're sure your source is reliable though?" Chloe asked. "You can trust this guy?"_

"_He's on Lex's payroll, so probably not as far as I can throw him, but I have to check it out." _

"_Why can't we wait until we have the team here?" Chloe wondered. "I don't like the thought of you going out there on your own."_

"_I've got AC backing me up and Bart and Victor are going to be in South America for another week most likely. The shipment is coming in tonight if we can stop it before it gets where it's going all the better." Oliver smiled. _

"_And how are we supposed to explain our absence from the party?" Chloe raised her eyebrow._

"_This." He held up his room key. "Complimentary on behalf of the hotel." He looked down the hallway and saw groups of people milling around. "Brace yourself Watchtower, I'm coming in." He smiled and Chloe opened her mouth to ask what the hell he meant by that and he kissed her. _

_She was so surprised she didn't have time to protest or even react much as he pushed her against the wall and fumbled with the room key. As a group of girls passed, giggling, Chloe understood and moved one hand to his back to pull him closer and one hand to take the key card from him and slip it in the door. The latch gave and the knob turned. Chloe pushed the door open with her foot and pulled Oliver in the room by his tie laughing as the people in the hallway watched in amusement._

_When Oliver had made it in the room, closing the door with his foot, Chloe turned and strode into the living room area. "My lap top in here?"_

"_What?" Oliver laughed walking into the bedroom to gear up. "No post coital snuggles?" He asked. _

"_If you think this constitutes as post coital, you need to get out more." Chloe laughed._

"_I can't." Oliver leaned his head out of the bedroom as Chloe set up her computer. "I have a girlfriend." He raised his eyebrows at her._

_Chloe paused and looked at him sheepishly. "Right." She cringed. "Sorry." She hadn't even thought of it like that yet, but he was right. To the rest of the world, Oliver Queen and Chloe Sullivan were in love; she couldn't exactly date someone else, or have a relationship, or even a tawdry one night stand. When she thought about it, it didn't bother her that much, relationships usually brought more trouble than they were worth as far as she was concerned, besides with everything she was juggling now, there was no way she'd have the time. _

_But then she thought about Oliver, one of the world's most eligible bachelors, ladies man extraordinaire, and realized that as long as they played this game he couldn't date either. Suddenly she felt horrible; she didn't want to do this to him, force him to live like this just so she'd have an excuse to work for the JLA. Then she realized that rarely did anyone force Oliver to do something he didn't want to do and he wasn't much for the dating and relationships, he was more for the tawdry one night stands, which for all she knew, could still be going on. Maybe he was going out and sleeping with random women, which in theory didn't bother her but as a fake girlfriend, she started to get pissed at her fake boyfriend. "Are you cheating on me?" She said suddenly._

_Oliver walked out of the room strapping his crossbow holster onto his leg. "What?" He asked her incredulous. "Chloe we're not really dating." _

"_I know that, I'm not stupid." She said glaring at him. "It's just I realized that as long as we pretend to do this, neither of us can really go out with other people. And I just wanted to make sure that you weren't you know cheating on me, because pretend relationship or not, you get caught on the front page of the Inquisitor with some random bimbo at a seedy motel and Chloe Sullivan is gonna dump your ass." She put her hands on her hips. _

"_Where is this coming from?" He shook his head at her and she straightened up._

"_Oh God." She somehow just seemed to realize what she'd said to him. "Can we just chalk this up as the stupidest thing I've ever said and forget the whole thing?" _

"_No." Oliver said. "Look, this is one of those things that we didn't think about when we took this on. I'm sure more and more things will pop up just like this. We need to talk about it." _

"_It's just…I know how much your giving up for this now and I would never ask you to give up more, but I've done that." Chloe said. "I've been that girl, the one whose boyfriend is cheating on her and everyone knows but me. It's one of the most humiliating feelings in the world and I…" _

"_One." Oliver walked over to her. "Who's the dumbass that cheated on you?" She smiled slightly and Oliver put his hands on her shoulders. "Two, boyfriend Oliver would never cheat on girlfriend Chloe and I would never do something like that to you either." _

"_I know." Chloe sighed. "I just I feel like I'm stopping you from living your life." _

"_No more than Green Arrow does, no more than I'm stopping you." Oliver pointed out. "We make sacrifices for the things we believe in, and as much as I believe in the mission, I believe in you. Besides, who cares about random bimbos at seedy motels when I can go on covert missions with my best friend?" Chloe smiled brighter at him. "Plus I heard someone say that there was gonna be cake later." _

"_Cake?" Chloe brightened even more. _

"_Chocolate cake." Oliver nodded. "For the party, I heard it was five feet wide and six feet long." _

"_That's a lot of cake." Chloe said dreamily._

"_So you don't have to worry about me." Oliver told her. "I've got you, and the guys, and I've got cake, what more does a guy need?"_

_They looked at each other smiling as if trapped in a bubble where they were the only ones in existence when they heard AC's voice. "Aquaman in position, what's your ETA Green Arrow?"_

_Oliver took one of his hands off Chloe's shoulder and pushed a button on his com. "Five minutes." He said and the spell was broken. Chloe turned around and sat down at her computer. _

_Oliver walked to the balcony pulling up his hood, slipping on his glasses and turning on the voice distorter. "Hey." Chloe turned around and called out to him. He pulled out his bow and turned to her. "They'll always be cake you know." Chloe said. "I'll make sure of it." _

_He just smiled at her and nodded before letting the arrow fly somewhere in the distance and then he was gone. Chloe turned her attention to the matter at hand. She still had to find Lex's crates before Green Arrow and Aquaman could see what he was shipping and get rid of them if need be. _

_Forty five minutes later she pulled out her earpiece and closed down the lap top and stood up to stretch. She caught her reflection in the mirror and sighed. Chloe walked into the bedroom and grabbed a pillowcase off of one of the pillows and reluctantly started to rub it against her hair. "What are you doing?" Oliver asked emerging from the shadows of the balcony and pulling his hood down. _

"_Making this believable." She said tossing the pillowcase against the wall and then grabbing the sheets and throwing them around. "Wouldn't want people to think that Oliver Queen didn't know how to please the ladies." She smiled as she undid one corner of the bed sheet._

"_Looks like I did plenty of pleasing." He said eyeing the bed and she turned and glared at him. _

"_Change, and wrinkle your shirt a little." Chloe told him. "Oh, and bring me your tie." He nodded at her as she walked into the other room and started to move things around just a bit. She tilted the lamp shade on one of the side tables, dropped a decorative bowl full of wax fruit on to the ground, scattering the fruit everywhere and messed up the couch cushions._

"_Here" Oliver walked in the room and handed her his tie. She grabbed him by the shoulders and steered him so that he was leaning against the side table. "What are you doing?" He asked. _

"_Making it look believable." She smiled and stood in front of him then tossed the tie over her shoulder. They both looked to see it land, draping over the television cabinet._

_Chloe turned away from him and walked to the couch. She took off her shoes then propped her leg up on the coffee table, pulling up her dress and unclasping her thigh highs. Oliver watched as she took it off then moved to the next leg. She grabbed them, stuffed one into the cushions and then dropped one on the ground, sliding it halfway under the couch. She put her shoes back on surveyed the room. "What do you think?"_

"_That I had a lot of fun." Oliver smiled looking at the place. _

"_That's what I was going for." Chloe said and turned to the mirror and wiped off her lipstick then turned to Oliver and took her finger and brought it up to the side of his mouth and smudged just a bit on his lip. Then she put her hand in his hair and messed it up a bit. "Ok, we're ready." _

_Oliver held out his hand and Chloe took it. "You know the whole time I was out there." He looked down at her as they walked out of the room. "All I could think about was that damn cake." _

_Chloe laughed up at him and shook her head._

* * *

After having to answer to Bart for every picture he saw, she found she was having to answer to her friends as well. "Saw another picture of you and Oliver the other day." Abby said to her.

"In England?" Chloe asked. So far their relationship hadn't spread past the local Star City news and for that Chloe was grateful, as good as Lois was being about everything she wasn't sure if she would handle Chloe and Oliver, even knowing it was fake if Chloe didn't tell her before she saw it plastered all over the tabloids.

"Hey hometown girl gets rich handsome billionaire, you didn't think anyone around here would pick that story up?" Abby laughed.

"Great, if it's making headlines over there, it'll spread here soon." Chloe sighed.

"What are you worried about, you have managed to land the most elusive eligible bachelor of our generation." Abby said.

"I didn't land him." Chloe sighed as she tried to focus on work and not the fact that she and Lois were going to have to have a conversation soon. "We just…"

"Hey, I'm not saying anything. I think it's great. I've known Oliver for a long time and you guys, you fit." Abby explained. "It works."

"Could we stop talking about my love life, when are you coming in?" Chloe asked.

"Wednesday, that way we have a few days before the party." Abby said. "The extravagant, over the top birthday party that your boyfriend is throwing for you."

"Do all roads lead back to Oliver?" Chloe laughed. "So you'll be in town for a while?"

"Yeah and I'm dragging Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb with me. Ever since you started them at that magazine, they're always working; I never get to see any of my friends anymore." Abby pouted. To her amazement Lily and Rose were still working at Posh, doing great and enjoying it.

"Sorry." Chloe said sarcastically.

"No biggie." Abby brushed it off. "It'll just be us girls for a few days before the party; we can catch up, like old times."

"Can't wait." Chloe said sincerely. "And you'll get to meet my cousin."

"She's coming in for the party?" Abby had heard so much about Lois and was dying to meet her.

"Yeah, but only for a few days, she has a job that actually pays the rent so she can't take too much time off."

"Is she bringing the yummy farm boy?" Abby had been able to talk of nothing but Clark since they'd gone to Smallville. Chloe couldn't fault her; she'd been pulled into the Clark Kent vortex herself back in high school.

"Yeah, he'll be there." Chloe laughed. "Look I got to go, I'll call you later."

"I'll answer." Abby said before hanging up.

If Chloe wasn't such a wuss she would have picked up the phone and called Lois right then and there. She was going to have to talk to her soon, seeing as how Lois was coming to the party and the party was being thrown by Chloe's "boyfriend" Oliver, she just couldn't bring herself to do it somehow.

Her phone rang as she stared at it and it scared her for a second. "Hey." She answered calming herself down. "I was about to call you, I can't do lunch today, I'm swamped."

"No problem." Oliver said. "I've got some things I should probably catch up at the office anyway."

"Good." Chloe smiled.

"Listen the reason I was calling, I want to take you out for your birthday." Oliver said.

"You're throwing me a huge party." Chloe was confused. "I think you've got the birthday handled."

"I know, but you were never really on board with the whole party thing and tomorrow's your actual birthday so we can't let it go uncelebrated." Chloe sighed and rolled her eyes but knew that it was probably a good idea.

"Tomorrow sounds great."

"Hey have you talked to Lois yet?" He asked innocently.

"I gotta go." Chloe avoided the question and hung up to the sound of Oliver's laughter.

She put off calling Lois that day because she really was swamped at work, and she put it off the next day too because she was a wuss, even going as far as letting her birthday call go to voicemail and vowing to make up for it later. She went out to dinner with Oliver, he drove her down to San Francisco and took her to one of her favorite restaurants where to her utter joy, she got to meet the chef. "I can't believe it." Chloe said as Oliver walked her back up to her apartment. "This was the best birthday ever."

"Man, if I had known you were this easy, I would have fed you duck a long time ago." Oliver joked with her.

"It wasn't the duck, well the duck was fabulous, it was the restaurant, and I got to meet the chef." She smiled again as the doorman nodded and let them in the building.

"Yeah, I know I was there." Oliver reminded her as they walked to the elevator. He stuck in his key and called the private penthouse elevator to the lobby.

"Thanks Oliver." Chloe smiled over at him.

"Well I know the big birthday party's not really your thing, you're just humoring me so I thought I'd do something special." He shrugged and got in the elevator Chloe following him.

"You know, I'm getting a little excited about the party." Chloe admitted. "Lois is coming to town, and all my friends, Bruce even said he'd come." Oliver made a strange facial expression and Chloe slapped his arm. "You will behave."

"I'll be on my absolute best behavior." Oliver assured her as they reached the penthouse and she walked inside and stopped dead in her tracks. Her entire apartment was covered in Tulips.

"Oh my god." Chloe walked further in smiling bigger. "How did you?"

"Don't look at me." Oliver raised his hands up in the air. "This was all the guys."

"They did this?" Chloe asked feeling almost a little misty eyed. "Tulips are my favorite."

"That's what Bart said." Oliver smiled.

She walked to the biggest bouquet on her bar area and inhaled the scent. Then she turned and saw a box sitting on the table. "What's this?" She picked it up and turned to Oliver.

"That one's mine." He nodded to her to open it. She blushed and pulled the top off, expecting a new charm for her bracelet but finding instead a delicate white gold necklace. She reached in and pulled it out of the box to find a pale green emerald pendant, carved in the perfect shape of an apple with a small stem and leaf made of white gold at the top.

"It's beautiful." She said looking at him in amazement. "I've never seen anything like this." She held it up to the light and it seemed to sparkle. She quickly handed it to Oliver and turned around so he could put it on. She looked down at it and smiled. The length of the chain was just right and the apple, about the size of a cherry fell in just the right place. She turned around smiling and Oliver looked at the necklace for a second before smiling back at her.

"Happy birthday." He kissed her cheek and she hugged him.

"I love it." She assured him.

"Well, it's late, I got an early morning." Oliver said. "See you tomorrow?"

"Yeah." She looked down at the necklace again and then back up at Oliver. "Don't forget Abby and the girls are coming in tomorrow afternoon, so we'll probably all go out to eat or something."

"I'll clear my schedule." He promised her and she nodded and went back to admiring her necklace. She couldn't help but look at the apple and think of Oliver, apples and arrows went together in so many legends, and smiled as she got ready for bed.

* * *

By managing to avoid Lois by pretending to be busy, she actually got a lot of work done and was able to take the whole day off when her friends showed up. She showed them around her penthouse and got them settled in to the hotel and they sat and relaxed with a cup of coffee before going shopping for a dress for the party, something Chloe had been having a serious problem with for some reason, she'd been to every shop in Star City and just couldn't seem to find anything, hopefully Lily could help her with that.

They were laughing and catching up when Chloe leaned forward to grab something and her necklace fell out of her shirt. "Where did you get that?" Lily leaned forward and lightly touched Chloe's necklace.

"Oh, Oliver gave it to me." Chloe smiled. "It was my birthday present." Lily exchanged looks with the other girls who all looked at Chloe strangely. "What?"

"Well, Oliver gave you this?" Rose asked.

"For my birthday." Chloe said. "What? I know what you're thinking, jewelry is a serious gift but it's just a little emerald pendant."

"It's not an emerald." Lily said cautiously. "Can I see it?" She asked and Chloe nodded taking off the necklace now, curious as to what was going on. Lily grabbed the necklace and walked to the kitchen getting a glass and coming back before running the apple down the side of the glass, which left a long straight cut.

"Holy shit." Chloe jumped up and looked at the glass, an emerald wouldn't do that. "That's a diamond?" She looked between the glass and the necklace in shock. "That's got to be like…a lot of carats."

"Nine maybe ten." Lily said, she was the expert on gemstones. "And it's not a diamond. It's a green diamond." She smiled. "A very rare diamond, very expensive"

"Very expensive?" Chloe asked.

"Only three maybe four million." Lily shrugged and handed her the necklace.

"Wow, this is more serious than I thought." Abby said staring at the necklace. "He must love you."

Chloe laughed. "No." They looked at her strangely. "I mean…" Chloe covered herself. "We haven't said that yet."

"Oh he said it when he gave you that necklace." Rose pointed out.

"It's just jewelry it doesn't mean anything." Chloe protested.

"It's not just jewelry." Abby said suddenly and leaned closer for a better look. "It was his moms."

Chloe looked up suddenly at Abby, surprised by this. "What?"

"I remember her wearing that all the time." Abby said. "His dad had it special made for her."

"It was his moms?" Chloe whispered and looked down at the necklace.

"I told you he loved you." Lily smiled and Rose hit her.

"So are you gonna talk to him about it?" Abby asked as Chloe tried on what felt like the fiftieth dress of the day.

"I have to." Chloe said. "I mean this is pretty big you know." She walked out and all three of the girls shook their head no.

She went back into the room and pulled the dress off. "He could have at least warned you." Rose conceded as Chloe's phone went off.

"Can you get that please?" Chloe called out from behind the curtain of her dressing room.

"I got it." Abby dug through Chloe's purse for her phone and smiled. "Oh speak of the devil."

"What?" Chloe asked.

"Oliver!" Abby said happily.

"Hello." Rose abandoned the dress she was debating and pulled the phone away from Abby.

"Uh hi." Oliver said confused. "This is Chloe's phone right?"

"It is." Rose smiled.

"Is she there?" Oliver asked.

"She's busy." Rose said as Abby tried to take the phone back.

"Give me the phone." Chloe called from the dressing room, unfortunately the dress she'd been trying on was stuck, half on, half off of her and she couldn't very well walk out.

"Put it on speaker." Lily bounced over to them.

"So Oliver Queen." Rose smiled. "As I live and breathe, what can we do for you?"

"Where are you?" He asked.

"Shopping." Lily said.

"She's too busy shopping to talk to me?" He sounded hurt.

"She's changing right at the moment." Abby said. "So what can we do for you?"

"She's changing huh?" Oliver laughed. "Well, if you really wanted to help me, you could just slip the phone under the changing room door and take a nice picture."

"Give me the phone." Chloe had thrown a top over the dress and waddled out of the dressing room, snatching the phone away from Rose as she blushed furiously. "What do you need Oliver?" She asked then turned to Lily. "Could you please get this zipper undone?"

"Take me off speaker." He said.

"Why?" Chloe asked.

"Because I'm gonna say something dirty, take me off." He told her. Chloe blushed again and turned the speaker phone off much to the groans of her friends.

"You're off." Chloe said walking back in the dressing room for privacy and to try and get the stupid dress off.

"Look, I hate to bail on you…" Oliver said.

"I have a feeling the conversation is going to end with you bailing on me under the guise of Justice." Chloe joked.

"We got a lead." Oliver said. "On Cassandra." Chloe froze. Cassandra was quite possibly Chloe's white whale, the one thing of Lex's she couldn't get a fix on. Every now and then it would pop up on their radar but before they could do anything it was gone again.

"I'll be right there." Chloe said pulling more fervently at the dress.

"No." Oliver said. "We can handle it. It's just recon."

"No." Chloe turned around so they couldn't hear her. "I don't want this to slip through our fingers again." Chloe said.

"And I don't want to go into a place without knowing what we're going up against." Oliver said.

"You mean like every other time we do this?" Chloe snapped at him.

"Every other time we do this doesn't involve someone who can see into the future." Oliver reminded her. "This is a completely different situation than we ever even anticipated. It's possible they know our every mood before we do." Chloe sighed and so did Oliver. "Besides you haven't seen your friends in so long."

"I know." Chloe said. "I know, I just, Oliver I want this one."

"I know, and trust me when the time comes you'll be in on it, all the way but for right now just stay there, act normal, complain about the party and have fun."

"Ok fine." Chloe said and then looked down at her necklace. "But I want to talk to you as soon as you get back."

"Total debrief, promise." Oliver said before hanging up and Chloe sighed, that wasn't what she meant when she said she wanted to talk. She groaned in frustration and walked out of the dressing room. "Can one of you please get this off me; I think the zipper is stuck."

"So what did tall blonde and gorgeous have to say?" Rose asked while she worked on the zipper.

"He's not gonna make dinner tonight, work emergency." Chloe said as the dress fell from her and she sighed in relief.

"Well that's good." Abby said. "I'm not sure I could take it, you two making googily eyes and kissy face at each other through a whole meal."

"We don't make googily eyes." Chloe scoffed.

"Everyone in love makes googily eyes." Rose pointed out.

"Try this one." Lily handed her a pale green dress. "It's his favorite color and it'll look good with the necklace."

Chloe brought the dress into the dressing room and surprisingly it was good. It fit her nice, accentuated what she liked, and hid what she didn't like. She bought it and they left the dress shop and headed for dinner. Chloe had a hard time concentrating; she was worried about Oliver, worried that they would come up with another empty building, another dead end. "Chloe." Rose snapped her fingers and Chloe shook her head.

"She misses Oliver." Lily smiled. "That's sweet."

"I'm just…" She decided to simply give in to her friends. "I miss Oliver." She admitted.

"You guys are already making me sick and I haven't even seen the two of you together yet." Abby told her.

They headed back to Chloe's after diner and were surprised to bump into Oliver on the street in front of her building. "Hey." He leaned down and kissed Chloe's cheek. "How was diner?"

"She couldn't eat." Abby said giving Oliver a hug and kiss. "She missed you too much."

"She did did she?" Oliver hugged Lily and Rose and turned to Chloe who raised her eyebrows. Oliver took that to mean, "Did you find anything?" He shook his head discreetly and her face fell. She recovered quickly and put on a smile.

"Yep, I couldn't concentrate on my food." She shrugged and Oliver smiled as the driver handed Chloe a dress bag.

"Is that your dress for the party?" He asked reaching for the bag. "You finally found one?"

"Yes." Chloe pulled the bag away from him. "Lily found it."

"Can I see?" He reached for the bag again and Chloe pulled it further away.

"No, it's a surprise." She laughed as he kept reaching for the bag.

"But it's your party, your birthday." Oliver protested. "Why do I have to have a surprise?" He made one final swipe at the dress and then gave up.

"Yep." Abby said taking the dress bag from Chloe. "I knew you two would make me sick."

Lily and Rose laughed and followed Abby into the building. Chloe tossed them her key for the elevator and said she'd be right up. She turned to Oliver who was still smiling. "What did she mean by that?"

"Nothing." Chloe brushed it off. "You didn't find anything?"

"Well we found something but we're not sure what it means, or if it means anything for that matter." He pulled out a torn slip of paper. Chloe took it from him and handed it over. It was a page from a book, a novel Chloe thought. "We found it lying on the floor, I mean it could be trash but it was literally the only thing in the ware house, there was nothing else but floors and walls and this piece of paper."

"I'll look into it." She slipped the paper in her pocket. "Now there's something else we need to talk about."

"Go." Oliver said and Chloe looked down at her necklace. "Oh." He smiled sheepishly.

"Yeah, oh." Chloe said to him. "This is a diamond." She told him.

"I know." He shrugged.

"I thought it was an emerald." Chloe pointed out. "Not just any diamond either apparently a very rare very expensive diamond." Chloe said.

"Very hard to find." Oliver admitted.

"And it was your mothers?" Chloe looked up at him sadly. "Oliver I can't accept this."

"You already did." He told her.

"But I didn't know…first of all it's too much, second of all it was your mothers."

"I know." He assured her. "I knew all that when I gave it to you. I wanted you to have it."

"But…" Chloe started to protest and Oliver cute her off.

"But nothing." He said. "I gave it to you, you accepted. My mom would have wanted you to have it. She would have loved you." He looked off down the road, seemingly into nothing. "She was pretty spunky, my mom." He laughed. "Didn't take crap from anyone, especially my dad, and never let him forget it." He looked at Chloe. "She would have liked that you don't hesitate to put me in my place when I need it."

Chloe looked up at him then back down at the necklace. "Ok, but I'm not going to wear it every day."

"No." Oliver said as she reached up to take it off. "She loved this necklace. My dad had it special made for her and she said she'd never take it off. She wore it every day. I was kind of hoping you would too." He said. "Besides it's exactly your style, simple and understated."

"Simple?" Chloe looked at him as if he was crazy. "I'm walking around with four million dollars around my neck and you think it's simple and understated?"

"Humor me." Oliver said to her and she relented.

"Ok, fine, but the first time, the very first time something happens and I almost lose it, or damage it, it goes in a box in a safe ok?"

"Deal." Oliver said.

* * *

Lois practically tackled Chloe as soon as she got off the plane. "Oh God." She said hugging her tight. "It feels like forever since I've seen you."

"Almost a year now." Chloe hugged her just as tight.

"Ok, let's not do that again." Lois didn't let go until Clark came up behind them.

"Do I get a turn?" Clark asked smiling.

Lois rolled her eyes and pulled apart from Chloe. "She's not an amusement park ride Smallville."

Clark gave Chloe a look that said, "This is what I've been dealing with for four hours on the plane" and Chloe made sure to give him an extra large hug for his efforts. Very quietly she barely even whispered, "If you'd just tell her, you could have saved yourself the headache."

Clark pulled away and glared at her and she couldn't help but laugh. "Lois, you're staying with me, Clark I can get you a room at a hotel or you can stay with Oliver or…"

"I think I can find a place." Clark laughed. Between Oliver, Bart, Victor, and AC Clark wouldn't want for a bed.

"Let's get you settled in then." Chloe said as Clark grabbed the bags and they headed to the car.

"I love the necklace." Lois said.

"It was a birthday present." She didn't elaborate on who gave it, or what it meant beyond happy birthday. She still wasn't even sure how she was going to tell Lois she was pretending to date her ex.

They settled in and Clark left to go check in with the boys as Chloe and Lois relaxed on her balcony. "This is the life." Lois said.

"Yeah well, I'm hardly ever here." Chloe sighed. "Work."

"What's the good of having all this if you can't enjoy it?" Lois asked her. "You work too hard."

"Not too hard." Chloe shrugged.

"Well you work hard enough at one job and then there's all your extracurricular stuff with Ollie." Lois said. "When do you sleep?"

"Sleep?" Chloe laughed. "What is that?"

"You're taking care of yourself right?" Lois asked concerned.

"I'm eating right and exercising and actually getting plenty of sleep." Chloe assured her. "Look, about the extracurricular stuff with Oliver."

"Chloe!" Abby called out.

"On the balcony." Chloe sighed. "We can talk later." Lois just nodded and they went back in the apartment. Chloe introduced Lois and her friends and they chatted briefly, Lois having more than she thought she would in common with Chloe's friends, having traveled so much growing up with the General. Abby picked out some wine and they sat around talking and laughing, telling Lois stories about Chloe and she actually started to relax, that was her first mistake.

"We ran into your boyfriend on the way up." Lily said relaxing back in the couch.

"Boyfriend?" Lois said confused looking between Lily and Chloe. Chloe opened her mouth to explain when Abby's eyes got huge.

"You haven't met Oliver yet?" Abby said. "He's a great guy, and these two are absolutely disgusting together."

"Oliver?" Lois turned to Chloe. "Boyfriend?"

"Did you see the necklace?" Rose piped in and Lois' eyes caught the apple around her neck. "It was his mom's, serious right? We've got a pool going for when the engagement is coming."

"Engagement?" Lois said surprised still staring at the apple. She remembered a picture in the Clock tower of Oliver's parents and his mom was indeed wearing that necklace.

"I'm hungry." Chloe said. "Are you guy's hungry? Lois can you help me get some stuff together in the kitchen?"

Lois nodded numbly and stood up to follow Chloe. "Lois let me explain…"

"No." Lois shook her head. "I get it. I really do. I mean Ollie and I were great together but he couldn't trust me with the biggest part of him. And you, you're like a better version of me and he trusts you, he trusted you a long time ago with all that stuff. You're like the perfect couple." She sighed. "I just didn't think I would lose you to him of all people."

"Loose me?" Chloe said confused. "Wait, your upset, not because I took your ex-boyfriend away from you, but because he took me away from you?"

"Duh." Lois looked at her. "Ollie's a great guy and all but your family. How can I compete with him? He's got money; he's the leader of a group of super heroes. I write sporadic articles for a dying newspaper."

"Ok." Chloe tried hard not to laugh. "First off, we aren't dating; it's all part of our cover." Lois seemed to relax. "Second of all no man not even the great and powerful Oliver could take me away from you, like you said we're family."

Lois jumped up suddenly and hugged her tight. "Oh thank god." She smiled and pulled back.

They hung out for a few more hours and then the girls went back to the hotel and Chloe and Lois went to bed. An hour after Chloe had fallen asleep she heard the door open and sat up quickly. "Lois?"

"I couldn't sleep." Lois said running and jumping into Chloe's bed. "I was thinking."

"That's never good. " Chloe laughed through a yawn.

"You and Oliver really are the perfect couple."

"Lois." Chloe groaned.

"No seriously." Lois said. "I went over it in my head and it makes total sense. I can't believe you don't see that."

"He's just Oliver." Chloe said falling asleep as she talked.

"I don't think anyone's ever called him just Oliver." Lois laughed. "I just wanted you to know, I'm ok with it."

"You're ok with it?" Chloe asked confused.

"With you and Oliver." Lois said.

"He'll be so happy to hear that." Chloe mumbled. "Now we can run off and get married."

"That's a joke right?" Lois said.

"Go to bed Lois or you're not invited to the wedding." Chloe said.

"Bitch." Lois turned over and closed her eyes as Chloe laughed.

* * *

The next morning Lois sat at the bar and watched as Chloe made her an omelet and neither of them heard the elevator ding. "Chloelicious." Bart strode into the room. "I thought I smelled one of your wonderful breakfasts." Bart plopped himself up at the bar next to Lois. "Good Morning gorgeous."

Lois set her coffee cup down and turned to Bart then to Chloe. "Who the hell is the shortcake?"

"Ouch." Bart grabbed his heart and gasped. "So early in the morning."

Lois' eyes went wide and Chloe laughed. "You want an omelet?" She asked Bart.

"Why do you ask me questions you know the answer too?"

"I told you she'd be making breakfast." AC stepped into the room followed by Victor and Clark.

"You want some help?" Victor walked around the bar and washed his hands.

"Well I wasn't expecting the whole neighborhood." Chloe nodded going to the fridge. "I need more supplies."

"I'll go." Bart jumped down. "I haven't been on my morning run yet."

Chloe jotted down a list of things and Bart nodded before taking off. "I'll get a little something special for you sweetheart." He winked at Lois and Victor shook his head.

AC took Bart's seat as Victor started a fresh pot of coffee. "Hey Lois."

Lois looked confused. "What's with the morning parade Chloe, who are these people, what's AC doing here?"

"These are my friends." Chloe smiled. "They came for breakfast."

"Friends?" Lois asked. "From where?"

"Work." Victor said as he chopped up onions.

"Work." Chloe repeated.

Suddenly there was a blur in the room and Bart was standing next to Chloe with an arm load of bags. "Did you want pulp in the orange juice?" He asked.

"You have a cell phone Bart." Chloe groaned. "Use it."

"This is faster." He said. "Pulp or no?"

"No." Chloe said unloading the bags.

"Back in a flash." He winked and blurred out.

"You guys don't work for her at her Uncle's Company?" Lois asked interested.

"No." AC said before he could stop himself.

"So you do the secret agent stuff with her and Oliver." Lois caught on slowly.

Victor laughed. "Yeah." He put a finger on the side of his nose and Chloe elbowed him in the ribs. "We do the secret agent stuff."

"Don't patronize me." Lois glared. "So that means that you guys have powers?" Victor just shrugged and AC coughed. "You do." Lois said. "Did every guy I dated have super powers that he failed to tell me about?" Chloe shot a look at Clark and he glared at her. "So what do you do?" Lois asked.

"I'm good in the water." Is all he said and by some miracle, Lois left it at that.

"You?" She asked Victor.

"I'm good with computers." He shrugged again.

"And the little one is really fast?" Lois said.

"Super fast, and not so little." Bart said from behind her. She jumped and turned to see him smiling. "Pulp less OJ." He handed a jug to Chloe and then pulled a bouquet of flowers from his back. "Sorry they're a little wet." He handed the flowers to Lois. "But they don't call it the rain forest for nothing."

"These are from the rain forest?" Lois looked at Chloe surprised.

"Bart stop showing off and grab a vase from under the sink." Chloe rolled her eyes.

"Looks like you've got some competition." AC joked with Chloe.

"She can have him." Chloe laughed.

"I don't want him." Lois protested.

Chloe shook her head and grabbed the phone. "Hey Oliver, we're having a family breakfast, be here in twenty or I can guarantee there won't be anything left."

"I'll be right over." He said and then hung up the phone.

Lois raised her eyebrows. "Family breakfast."

"Yeah." Chloe smiled as she cracked eggs.

Lois looked around as Bart and AC goofed off in the living room and Clark greeted Oliver at the door like old friends while Chloe and Victor danced around the kitchen cooking the breakfast. "Family huh?" Lois said nodding.

Breakfast was what Lois always imagined it would be like in a big close knit family; everyone was talking over everyone else and stealing off of each other's plates. There was good natured teasing, and lots of laughter and she loved it. As Bart and AC argued over whose turn it was to do the dishes, while Clark actually did them Lois talked to Victor, learning about the part of Chloe's life that Abby and the others couldn't fill her in on. "You ready for the party tonight?" Oliver asked.

"No." Chloe said. "But I guess I don't have a choice in the matter."

"Not really." Oliver said. "Did you talk to her yet?" He nodded to Lois.

"Yeah." Chloe smiled. "You want to hear something funny?" She rocked on her heels

"You're going to tell me no matter what aren't you?" Oliver asked.

"You know how we were scared to tell her because we thought she'd go off on a jealous rage over you?" Oliver nodded. "We were half right. She was jealous of you not me. She didn't want you to take me away from her."

"She wasn't even remotely jealous?" Oliver asked.

"No." Chloe smiled. "In fact she told me that we would make the perfect couple, and she gave us her blessing."

"You sure that's Lois and not a pod person?" Oliver asked.

Chloe slapped him. "Ok guys out, we've got to shower and be at the spa in an hour."

"Spa?" Lois asked. "I didn't agree to a spa."

"Humor me." Chloe said ushering all the guys to the elevator. "It's my birthday."

"I hate spas." Lois groaned.

She didn't hate the spa; she actually had a good time getting primped and made up for the party. Everyone went back to Chloe's to get dressed and they were having a calming glass of wine when the elevator dinged and the guys walked out. "You guys clean up nice." Chloe smiled walking to straighten Bart's tie.

Oliver gave her the boyfriend kiss on the cheek because of Abby, Lily, and Rose and Clark looked on confused. "You look beautiful."

"You don't look so bad yourself." Chloe smiled. "Ladies, may I present to you, your escorts for the evening."

Bart headed for Lois but was shoved back by AC who grabbed her arm. She smiled up at him as Abby walked over to Clark who managed after a little fumbling to extend his arm to her. Victor walked over to Rose and offered his arm and she smiled and took it. That left Bart with Lily but she was a good sport about the whole thing and tried to make him feel a little better. "I guess you're stuck with me." She smiled at him.

"It would be my pleasure to get stuck with you." Bart bowed extravagantly and kissed her hand. Lily smiled genuinely and laughed.

"Let's go." Oliver said grabbing Chloe's shawl and pushing the elevator button.

The party wasn't as bad as Chloe was expecting. Sure the decorations were over the top, the food was overpriced, and the entertainment was over paid but having her friends and family all together in one place made up for all of that. They managed to out party even the hardest of all Chloe and Oliver's friends, Bruce stayed for only a few minutes, just long enough to give Chloe a present and nod stoically at all her friends.

"I didn't know there was a way to become this exhausted." Lily said.

"Would you like me to carry you back home?" Bart offered. She smiled and laughed and Chloe couldn't believe that Lily was actually charmed by Bart. Then again, Bart would completely and utterly worship the ground that Lily walked on, and Lily would love that.

"What are you thinking about?" Oliver leaned forward and whispered in Chloe's ear.

"Nothing." She shook her head and turned to lean on his shoulder. "This was a great party, I'm sorry I gave you such a hard time about it."

"No problem." Oliver said.

"Ok you guys are the cutest couple in the world." Abby groaned. "We get it."

"Couple?" Clark asked.

"Oh yeah Clark, you want to get in on the betting pool?" Oliver raised his eyebrows as Abby laughed. "We're betting on when he's gonna finally propose."

"Propose?" Clark swallowed.

"Hey Smallville, let's go grab the coats." Lois got up quickly and grabbed his arm.

"You're betting on our engagement?" Oliver laughed.

"We've got to keep ourselves occupied somehow." Rose defended herself.

"That puts a lot of pressure on a guy." Oliver said. "Does that matter to you?"

Lily and Rose looked at each other and then back at Oliver. "No." They laughed.

"You guys are great friends." Oliver stood up. "Really, great." He held out his hand to Chloe. "We should get these lovely ladies home, it's getting late."

"My Lady." Bart jumped up and held his hand out to Lily. She smiled and grabbed it letting him pull her up and spin her around.

Clark and Lois came back and handed out the coats as the janitors started to clean up the ballroom. "Happy Birthday Chloe." Oliver said as they walked into the cold night air.

"Thanks." She leaned into his shoulder and they headed home.


	10. Chapter 10

Saying goodbye to Lois and Clark was hard but it also gave Chloe the privacy she needed to work on the piece of paper Oliver found at the empty warehouse. She'd managed to figure out what book it was from and was flipping through it now. She was reading the page that had been torn out and left at the warehouse but nothing was popping out at her. As much as she wanted to believe it was a clue she was going to have to admit to herself that it was more likely someone had accidentally torn a book and someone just missed it in the cleanup.

"What's that?" Elizabeth picked up the torn piece of paper.

"Just a piece of a book." Chloe ran her fingers through her hair.

"I can see that." Elizabeth said to her and then pointed to the bottom of the page. Chloe looked closely where Elizabeth was pointing. The very last line of the book was made up of a bunch of random letters.

"A typo or something?"

"It's handwritten." Elizabeth said confused.

Chloe looked at it again and sure enough it was painstakingly written on the paper in ink, not printed. "Let me see that." She compared the torn page to the book in her hands and the writing was not in her copy of the book. "But it's nonsense, no words." Chloe mumbled more to herself than Elizabeth.

"Maybe it's a secret code." Elizabeth smiled and walked away.

Chloe froze and looked up. Elizabeth was joking but something she said clicked in her head. She scanned down the torn piece of paper, she'd read it through a couple times but before it didn't mean anything to her, now it did. She excitedly moved to her computer and typed away. She worked straight through to lunch and the end of the day. She quit only long enough to take it home with her and finish there.

She was still working on it when Oliver showed up, she didn't even notice him however, she was so engrossed. "Chloe?"

"Oliver." She said looking up at him with this shine in her eyes that he'd only ever seen when she was digging into Lex on JLA business. "Oh my God, you're never going to believe this."

"Believe what?" He walked to her desk and leaned over her shoulder. The pages in front of her were filled with grids of random letters, random words, and a lot of things scratched out.

"The paper." She said going back to the pile of things on her desk and searching for the torn piece of book. "The one you found at the warehouse. You won't believe what it means."

"It means something?" Oliver's interest was piqued.

"I didn't think so at first and then Elizabeth noticed something and then it all fell into place, well not all, not yet."

"Ok, start at the beginning." Oliver told her to try and calm her down.

"Right, sorry." She took a deep breath and smiled. "The book itself doesn't mean anything, it's some really boring story about a guy moving back to his hometown but the page, well the piece of a page that was torn out had this on it." She showed him the letters at the bottom and Oliver shrugged.

"It doesn't mean anything." He said. "It's gibberish."

"It's code." Chloe smiled at him. "Elizabeth said it a little jokingly but then I remembered something I'd read. One of the characters in the book was reading something, a book called Rebecca's Code. It's a real book, I looked it up. Rebecca's Code is about a girl who is kidnapped, and using a code, a cipher, leaves messages for the people who are looking for her."

Oliver processed that for a second and turned to Chloe. "You think Cassandra's using a secret code to communicate with us?"

"Yes." Chloe smiled.

"How does she even know about us?" Oliver asked.

"They must have told her. Think about it not only can she see the future, so she probably sees us coming, but at the same time, they've probably told her to look out for us."

"Did you figure out the code?" He asked.

"I think so, I haven't finished yet. I used the code the girl, Rebecca's uses in the book." Chloe pulled at all of her papers and explained what she was doing to Oliver and he tried as best as he could to follow along but this was way over his head.

"How in the world did you ever figure this out?" He asked amazed.

"Trust me, it wasn't easy. This is the twentieth time I've gotten to this point, it could turn out to be nonsense and I'll have to start over but I think I've got it." She continued looking at her chart and writing letters down and when she was finished she looked up at Oliver with a strange look on her face.

"So what's the verdict?" He asked.

She looked down and re read it, as if she still couldn't believe it herself. "Watchtower let Susan come up."

"What does that mean?" Oliver asked. "Who is Susan?"

"I have no idea." Chloe said. "Maybe I did it wrong."

She went back to her papers and was about to start again when her buzzer went off. She looked at Oliver and then got up and walked to the intercom. "Yes?"

"Miss Sullivan. There is a woman here, she says her name is Susan and that it's very urgent that she come up and see you."

Chloe turned to Oliver and he looked back down at the paper. "Let Susan come up." He whispered.

"It's ok, send her up." Chloe said and looked at Oliver more confused than she'd ever been in her life. "I just need a minute to think about this." Chloe said taking a deep breath and closing her eyes, her preferred method of working through a problem. "So it's obvious now that she did send us a message, that she can see into the future, and that she knows who were are."

"Yes, I agree with each of those statements." Oliver said.

"But why?" Chloe asked. "Why did she send us this message, why did she let us know all this?"

"Because she wants our help?" Oliver asked.

"Maybe." Chloe said. "Then why didn't she just tell us where she was going to be and how to get into her."

"Maybe she didn't have that much time, plus you said it yourself, it took you a while to figure all this out, maybe she wanted you to figure out the code, learn how to do it a little more quickly before she sends us any more information." Oliver said.

"Ok." Chloe said waiting by the elevator doors. When they opened there was a woman standing there, she looked as nervous as Chloe felt, and just as confused. "Susan?" She asked and the woman seemed to remember where she was.

"Chloe Sullivan?" She stepped out of the elevator, clutching her bag.

"Yes." Chloe smiled, trying to calm her down.

"I know you don't know who I am; I didn't know who you were until she told me to find you." Susan babbled. "I don't even know what I'm doing here."

"How about we start at the beginning." Chloe led her into the room. "You are…"

"Susan, Susan Rafferty." She took a deep breath and calmed down.

"Susan, can I get you some coffee?"

"That would be great." She smiled and Chloe nodded at Oliver who went to the kitchen. "Let's sit down."

Susan followed her to the living room and sat in the chair. Oliver came up and handed her a cup of coffee and she smiled. "Thank you."

"This is Oliver Queen." Chloe introduced him.

"Yes, I know who he is." She laughed.

Oliver just smiled and sat down next to Chloe. "Who told you to find me?"

"My sister." Susan said pulling out an envelope. "Janet Rafferty?" Chloe showed no recognition. "Right, she told me to tell you, Cassandra?" Chloe's eyes got huge and she turned to Oliver. "So you know her?"

"Yes." Chloe said slowly.

"I guess I should start at the beginning. Janet is a genius, she's always been smart and we had her tested when she was a teenager, she skipped grades left and right and passed me up before I made it to high school. She's only two years younger than me but she was getting her Master's in biology when I was going to the junior prom." Susan chuckled. "When she was about fourteen she went to this academic summer camp and she started this thing where she would write to me in code. It was just a fun thing we did to pretend that what we were writing was more important than it was. She knew when she was five that she wanted to go into medical research, finding cures for diseases and stuff but she was always really interested in Codes and puzzles." Chloe nodded to tell her she was following.

"About six years ago, she got a job with LutherCorp, what she'd always wanted to do and she moved to Metropolis. She told me that her work was so top secret that she was only going to be able to talk to me through letters. We've been writing back and forth ever since. A few weeks ago I got a letter from her, it was written in the same code we used to use when we were little. It said that I had to come find you that I had to come meet you and give you this." She handed Chloe a piece of paper. Chloe opened it to see a very long string of letters that didn't make any sense, another code.

"She gave you this to give to me?" Chloe asked.

"Well, she left me a code to create that from her letter." Susan said.

"Did she say anything else?" Chloe asked.

"No." Susan said. "Just that. I wasn't going to come but I got another letter a few days ago, telling me that it was important that I get that to you. So I drove for two days and here I am."

"Thank you." Chloe said.

"Can I ask, I just don't understand this, what's going on?" Susan said.

Chloe froze what could she tell this woman? That her sister could see the future and because of that was being held hostage by Lex Luther and Chloe along with a secret group of superheroes were trying to rescue her? That wouldn't go over well. "You said you didn't know who I was until she told you to find me?" Chloe asked. "I guess you googled me? You know who I am now?"

"Yeah." Susan said. "You're the Heir to the Standish Communications Empire."

"Right, well five years ago I was a reporter working in the classifieds department of the Daily Planet in Metropolis." Chloe smiled. "Your sister, Cassandra was the name she used with us; she came to the paper, trying to pitch a story, an expose about Lex Luther."

"Janet?" Susan said astonished.

"Yes, no one wanted to take it, she had no proof and I know from experience that getting anything about Lex published is hard work." Chloe chuckled. "I guess that's why they sent her to me. I believed her, I wanted the story but we needed more proof." Oliver was staring at Chloe wondering just where in the hell this whole thing was coming from. "When my Uncle found me and brought me to England, I kept in touch with her, I'd been working with her for a year and even though I wasn't really a reporter I was as invested with this story as she was. She wanted to keep going, I wanted to keep going, I was now the owner of quite a few national and international papers so getting it published was not going to be a problem. We've been working on this story for five years now, gathering evidence, and timelines, everything we need." Chloe said. "The thing is Lex is getting paranoid, she can't risk sending things straight to me, I was wondering how we were going to communicate, but I guess she took care of that huh?"

"Wow." Susan smiled. "I can't believe…I mean this is a big deal."

"Yes it is." Chloe smiled at her.

"Can I ask, what is Lex doing?" Susan leaned forward. "What is she investigating?"

"The less you know the safer you are." Chloe told her.

"Is it dangerous?" Susan asked scared. "For Janet?"

"No." Chloe assured her. "Trust me, if I thought it was dangerous I would put a stop to it right away. I really appreciate you doing this."

"No." Susan stood up. "I mean, if she's trying to expose Lex Luther for doing something illegal, I'm just happy I can help."

"We're happy you can help too." Chloe smiled and stood up. Susan stood up to and Chloe led her to the elevator and handed her a card that she wrote something on. "If Janet sends you anything else, send it here. This is a secure address."

"Of course, no problem." Susan smiled at the both of them. "It was really nice to meet you guys."

"It was nice to meet you too." Chloe said and Susan got in the elevator and left.

"Whose address did you give her?" Oliver said.

"Bart's P.O. Box in Chicago." Chloe said. "If Lex is tracking the mail, he won't think anything of her sending stuff to a Wally West."

Oliver chuckled. "Where did you pull that story from?"

"My ass." Chloe sighed. "I had to think of something."

"We have a name now." Oliver said. "Janet Rafferty."

"You get Victor on that, I'm going to work this out." Chloe waved the page with the new message at Oliver and he nodded pulling out his phone.

After two hours Chloe had the message decoded. "Angel Bay, Sinner's Statue, Find Bendis."

"That's it?" Oliver asked.

"That's it." Chloe shrugged. "There is an Angel Bay in Southern California but I've looked it up, I've pulled the satellite images, there's nothing there, no facility that could be used by Lex, it's a tourist trap on the beach."

"I'll send Bart and AC down there." Oliver told her. "Tomorrow. It's late and we both could use some rest." He kissed her forehead, more out of habit than anything, and left her alone for the night.

* * *

The next day Chloe had a hard time concentrating at work, Bart and AC had left early that morning, Bart by land, AC by water and they should have gotten there by now. Her cell phone rang and she practically fell out of her chair trying to answer it. "We're here." Bart said. "You were right; the place is a tourist trap."

"What about the Sinners Statue?"

"I didn't see anything but AC's asking some of the locals." Bart said.

"What about Bendis?" Chloe asked. "Is there a street or a hotel or something?'

"Nothing in the phone book." Bart sighed. "Nothing that I saw when I was walking around."

"You think it could be a person?" Chloe wondered out loud.

"We're supposed to find come guy called Bendis in this place?" Bart asked. "It's full of people."

"Just do your best." Chloe sighed and then called Oliver to relay what Bart had found and then just waited. She tried to keep occupied with the quarterly reports but just couldn't seem to keep her mind on them. Her cell phone rang and she quickly answered it. "What did you find?"

"Bendis." AC said to her. "Right where the note said he'd be, at the Sinner's Statue."

"Bendis is a person?" Chloe asked.

"A very drunk person." Bart screamed through the phone.

"We're gonna sober him up and then bring him back home." AC said. "It may take a while; we'll have to fly back."

"Ok." Chloe said. "I'll let Oliver know."

When she got home from work she found a very smelly man sitting at her kitchen table with a cup of coffee. She walked past him cautiously to where AC, Bart, and Victor where having a discussion in the living room. "What's with the hobo?"

"That's Bendis." AC said. "I think he's made up of about 50 pure alcohol because he's still not sober."

"We had a hard time getting him on the plane." Bart said.

"How did you find him? Where was he?" Chloe asked.

"I was asking around, trying to find if any locals knew anything about Bendis or a Sinner's Statue. They all said they had no idea what the Sinner's Statue was but we could find Bendis down on the docks, by a local street performer. A lot of the locals knew him; he shows up at the bars around 10 in the morning and leaves around 10 at night, if they don't kick him out sooner. When we got there he was attacking a man completely painted in silver. He was one of those guys that stands there all day and doesn't move, a human statue." AC said. "We broke up the fight and asked what was going on. Bendis said the statue guy had stolen his wallet, sure enough we checked the guy's pockets and we found more than just his wallet. Apparently when tourists stand in front of him to get their picture taken, he lifts their wallets."

"Sinner's Statue." Chloe mumbled to herself.

"Sinner's Statue." Bart nodded.

"Have you talked to him? Has he said anything?" She set her bags down and took off her jacket.

"Nothing, we were waiting on the boss man before we did anything else." AC shrugged.

"It was weird, I mean he didn't even ask us any questions, we told him we were taking him to Star City and he just wanted to know if you'd have beer." Bart said.

Chloe looked over at the man then nodded. She walked over to the table and sat down on the other side of him. "Mr. Bendis?" She ventured and he looked up at her, she could see slight confusion in his eyes. "Can I get you more coffee?"

"No thank you." He said then looked back down into his cup.

Chloe looked over him and sighed. "When was the last time you ate something?" He looked up at her confused. "Are you hungry?"

"I don't know." He shrugged and Chloe smiled getting up.

"I'll fix you something to eat. If you don't want it, no problem." She moved to the kitchen and started whipping up something that would not only fill him up but hopefully sober him up faster than the coffee.

When Oliver arrived at the Penthouse, Chloe was setting a plate of steak and eggs covered in salsa in front of the man who seemed to realize when finally confronted with food that he was indeed hungry. The boys filled Oliver in on how they found him as he devoured the plate in front of him. "Thank you." He said with a slightly smile at Chloe as he pushed the plate away.

"No problem." She said. "Can I get you anymore?"

"No ma'am." He shook his head. "I'm full. It was very good, I appreciate it." It was as if the food had somehow rejuvenated him, possibly sobered him up. "If I could ask though, where am I?"

Chloe looked over at Oliver and he nodded and went to sit next to her at the table. "Mr. Bendis, a woman told us to find you, to help you."

"Help me what?" He asked confused.

"We're not sure." Chloe admitted. "Does the name Cassandra mean anything to you?" He shook his head. "What about 33.1?"

"What's that?"

"Nothing." Chloe sighed and then noticed that he was holding something in his hands, a set of dog tags. "Were you in the army?"

"No." He paused; it seemed as if he was getting choked up. "My son was." He opened his fist to reveal the tags. "He was a Marine."

"Was?" Chloe asked.

"He was a Major, stationed in Afghanistan." He took a deep breath, just trying to hold it together. "There was an accident three months ago; he was hurt by a roadside bomb but he was alive, they patched him up really well. They were going to send him home to rehabilitate." He looked up at Chloe and Oliver. "Then one day we got the call, complications they said, he died in surgery. But they never sent his body. We never got a funeral." He stared at them hopefully. "Is that how you're going to help me? Are you going to find my son?"

Chloe looked over at Oliver as the old man broke down again and nodded her head for him to follow. They walked away from the table, back to the guys. "Project Ares resurfaces?" Chloe asked.

"But what does that have to do with Cassandra?" Oliver asked.

"Maybe nothing." Chloe said. "Maybe this was never about finding her, maybe this wasn't even really about finding him." She nodded to the old man. "Find Bendis, what if we've got the wrong one?"

"You mean Cassandra is sending us out to find the son?" Oliver asked.

"Maybe, she can see the future, she knows what we do, and maybe she's trying to help us out with this, because she can't help us find her." Chloe said.

"Ok." Oliver ran his fingers through his hair. "Victor I want you to get this guys file, figure out who he was, when he supposedly died. AC, you and Bart start going through all the old stuff we have on Ares ok?"

"On it." They all left to their respective duties and Chloe looked at Bendis.

"What do we do with him?" She asked sadly.

"I don't know yet." Oliver said. "Mr. Bendis." He walked back over to the table. "We're gonna put you up in a hotel tonight, tabs on us so don't worry about it. How about you order some room service, get some rest and we'll talk more in the morning."

"So you'll look into it?" He asked. "My son, something isn't right." He told them. "We got this letter, a day before he died. He was talking about coming home, about getting his appetite back and trying to talk his doctors into letting him take a walk."

"We'll look into sir." Chloe said. "We'll find out what we can."

"Thank you." He clutched Chloe's hand and nodded at Oliver.

"Let's go." Oliver said leading him to the elevators.

Chloe was going over Bendis' file when Oliver got back. He was a great soldier, decorated with top marks, the perfect candidate for Project Ares. "What have you got?"

"It fits." Chloe said. "This file basically reads as a carbon of Wes'. If he had the chance, Lex would have swiped him in an instant. He was scheduled to come home to recuperate, all the notes in his medical file say he was getting better, that they had high hopes for him. There was no explanation for his death. Well the coroner said a blood clot but they'd been real careful, watching out for them, giving him blood thinners."

"So you think that's what this is?" Oliver asked. "Project Ares? Have any other soldiers gone missing?"

"It's hard to say whose gone missing and whose dead." Chloe shrugged. "I've been thinking though."

"Uh oh." Oliver joked with her.

"If I remember correctly." Chloe pulled something up on the computer. "When Wes was taken, it caused a lot of questions, because there was no helicopter accident, there was nothing to explain why he was gone and it caused more harm than good. But Bendis was in an accident, he was hurt, pretty bad, but he would have lived. I think they learned from their mistakes and took him from the hospital, where it would have been easy enough to say there was a complication, that his injuries were just too severe."

"Makes sense." Oliver said.

"But Wes was there for a year before he was sent out to be tested, that makes the think the process is really involved and I don't think Bendis' is recovered enough to undergo it. Lex may be impatient but he wouldn't risk jeopardizing the whole thing just to speed it up a bit."

"So you're saying it's possible that nothing's even happened to him yet?" Victor said.

"We all know that once Lex creates these guys, there is no turning back, there's no way to stop them, besides death. I don't think Cassandra would send us through all these hoops just to kill this guy, I think she wants us to save him." Chloe said.

"You're putting a lot of faith in someone we've never met and quite frankly I'm not even sure we can trust." Oliver pointed out.

"You gotta put your faith in someone." Chloe shrugged. "She led us to Bendis, he led us to Ares, I've got to believe that's so we can stop Lex from killing him, so that we can save him. I have to."

"Ok." Oliver said after a minute. "Let's see what we can find."

* * *

Finding the other Bendis wasn't as easy as the first. Chloe had to catch herself from cursing at the seer; couldn't she have given them a little more information to go on? It wasn't until two weeks later that they caught a lucky break. Victor saw it first, a massive shipping order, almost identical to the inventory of the first Project Ares facility. He ran it by Chloe to get a second opinion, to make sure he wasn't just seeing what he wanted to see.

All of them had been eating, sleeping, and breathing Project Ares since the day they spoke to Bendis. Seeing the look on his face when he talked about his son, seeing a grown man break like that spurned them on, and they all knew that they didn't have a lot of time. They knew that as soon as John was healed Lex would start his experiment and then there would be no turning back. It would change from a rescue mission to a search and destroy and none of them wanted that.

"Oh God." Chloe smiled up at Victor then flung her arms around his neck.

"So I'm not just seeing things?" He asked hopefully.

"No." Chloe said. "I'd stake my company on it." She told him. "Call the others."

Within twenty minutes everyone was situated in Chloe's living room. "We found him." She said. "Well we found the facility where we're pretty sure he's going to be." She laid everything out to them, the supplies that Lex ordered, the relocation of his top geneticists.

"Good work." Oliver smiled proudly at Victor and Chloe. "All right, we're going in." He turned to the guys. "No recon, we might not have time. If he's setting up the lab, it means he's ready to go forward."

"No problem boss." Bart jumped in, always ready for action.

"Wheels up in two hours." Oliver told them. The all nodded and went their separate ways to pack the gear they would need. "I want you to monitor the whole time we're in the air." He told Chloe.

"Sure." She smiled at him. "I had Victor get me the blueprints of the building and I'll go over them before show time."

"You're the best Watchtower." Oliver kissed her forehead and left to pack his own gear.

"Hey." Chloe called after him. "Can you do me a favor?"

"Sure." Oliver pushed the elevator button.

"Can you blow it up a lot?" She asked, her voice joking but her tone serious.

"I'll throw in an extra pound of C4 with your name on it." Oliver told her and then left.

Chloe had familiarized herself with every aspect of the building, it was small, Lex was trying to be discreet, unfortunately he had managed to order every piece of equipment on the evil villains shopping list for genetic manipulation and that was sort of a red flag. She felt more anxious, sitting in front of that computer, waiting for everyone to check in than she had on any other mission before. "Watchtower we are in position."

"All right." Chloe said cracking her knuckles and getting to work. "We're in luck, looks like they've just moved in and haven't finished setting up their alarm system."

"I love it when things go my way." Green Arrow said. "What entrance?"

"Looking at the blueprints, the most logical room to hold him in is in the far right corner, and I've got a heat signature there. If you take the back entrance it'll put you practically right on top of him."

"Ok, moving out." Green Arrow said and Chloe switched from blueprints to the infrared satellite image.

"You've got two guards once you round the corner. The only ones on the outside. There is another directly outside the door to what I'm hoping is the holding cell. There are two more signatures in the main room, but I think that's the lab so I want to say you've got doctors but I can't be sure."

"Impulse, you check that out." Green Arrow said. "If its security come back for Victor, if it's Doctors you know what to do."

"Get them out of the building, no problem." Impulse said.

"I want visual." Chloe said and Oliver complied by turning the camera on his glasses.

The wind was blowing too hard so they forwent the poison arrows and instead opted for hand to hand combat. The guards were well trained but Oliver was better and Victor was stronger and within five minutes the fight was over. Victor and AC took the bodies and dragged them away from the building to get the clear of the blast site. "We're going in." Green Arrow said as he opened the back door. They were so stupid; they figured because they had guards on it they could leave it unlocked.

"Impulse, straight ahead to a set of double doors."

"Got it." He said and Chloe watched a blur of red from the corner of Oliver's glasses.

"Green Arrow, take the next right, don't forget about the guard." She reminded him.

"On it." He peered around the corner and contemplated using another arrow, but the space was so tight and he didn't want to risk not only himself but John falling victim to the gas. He needed the soldier in good enough shape to be able to get him out of there.

"Two Doc's in the lab, scurried like roaches when I told them the place was gonna blow." Impulse said over the coms and Chloe checked her screen, sure enough the heat signatures were gone.

"Good job." Green Arrow said. "Meet Cyborg and Aquaman and set the charges."

"Will do."

"What's the plan?" Chloe asked as Oliver took another look at the guard.

"I think I'm gonna wing it." He said before stepping out into the hallway opening. The guard scrambled to his feet and looked scared as Chloe saw an arrow fly forward and hit his shoulder, pinning him to the wall.

"Sorry." Green Arrow said. "I really need to get in that room." The guard went to reach for his gun and Oliver shot another arrow, trapping his hand against the wall. He walked up and pulled the gun out, tossing it to the end of the hall. "Do you happen to have the keys?"

The guard put a shaky hand into his pocket and handed the keys over to Oliver. "Don't hurt me."

"I wouldn't waste my time." He scoffed as he turned around and headed to the door. He tried the first key with no success and moved onto the second which was also a bust. After the seventh key Chloe couldn't help the giggle that escaped from her.

"Don't start." Oliver grunted trying the seventh key.

"Sorry." Chloe said. "I'm sure you look very intimidating, fumbling with the lock."

"You're such a comedian." He said and then threw the keys over his shoulder. "Screw it." He banged on the door. "If you can hear me, get as far back from the door as you can." He said.

Chloe watched the heat signature shrink into the back corner of the room. "You're clear." She told him, knowing what was coming as he shot of a smaller arrow from his cross bolt and it landed in the door right above the knob. He moved back down the hall before it exploded and then laughed. "I love that arrow."

When the smoke cleared Oliver saw the door swinging open. There was a man standing there looking confused. "Somebody call for a pick up?" Oliver walked forward.

Chloe rolled her eyes. What was with superheroes and cheesy lines, it was almost as bad as the thing they had for rooftops. "What's going on?"

"John Bendis?" Green Arrow asked.

"Yes, I've been, I think I've been kidnapped. I'm a United States Marine."

"We know." Oliver said. "We're gonna get you out of here."

"Charges are set." Cyborg said.

"I've got the package." Green Arrow replied. "Meet back at the rendezvous point."

"Roger." Cyborg said.

"Can you walk?" Green Arrow asked John who nodded numbly. Green Arrow walked over to the guard and pulled the two arrows out of the wall. "This place is gonna blow in about two minutes, I suggest you get as far away as you can, and then you remind your boss that I'm always watching him."

The guard just nodded and took off running as Green Arrow led John out of the building. "I want to see it blow." Chloe said to Oliver and he obliged turning around to look at the building when they'd reached a safe distance.

"Green Arrow to Watchtower." He said. "Mission accomplished."

"Let's get this soldier home." Chloe smiled. "He's got family waiting."

"Roger that." Green Arrow said.

Chloe took out her ear piece and seemed to breathe out for the first time in weeks. John was safe, Lex was thwarted, and her guys were coming home.

Oliver and company walked into the Penthouse later that night with John in toe. He insisted he didn't want to see a doctor or a lab and considering where he'd been the past three months they were inclined to listen to him. "What's this?" Oliver asked.

"Where's your…" Chloe mad a motion that Oliver took to be hood and he laughed.

"It was hot, and he's military, he's not going to tell anyone who we are." Oliver said.

"I won't ma'am." He stood perfectly straight and still at the entrance. "You can trust me, I'm just happy that you guys got me out of that place."

"Come in." She said waving him past the threshold. "Sit down. I thought you might be hungry. I didn't know if he was feeding you or well if he was feeding you good food." They all looked down at the table and were shocked to see the amount of food there.

"She cooks when she's nervous, or happy." AC said.

"Or when we get back from a mission." Victor added.

"Or you know when it's Tuesday." Bart pointed out sitting down and digging in with no further ado.

"I guess I went a little overboard." Chloe smiled sheepishly.

"No ma'am." John smiled at her. "This all looks real good."

"Let me get you guys some drinks." Chloe said running to the kitchen.

"I'll go talk to her." Oliver laughed. "Save me some of that chicken Bart, I mean it this time."

"I should have gone to the store." She mumbled as she dug in the fridge. "Oh Oliver." She smiled. "Go and see what Victor has in his place, I've only got beer and wine and Cokes and Dr. Peppers, a few Sprites, some Gatorade."

"I think you're good to go."

"What if he wants milk?" Chloe asked. "I used all the milk when I was making the gravy."

"John, do you want milk with your dinner or can I get you something else?"

"A beer if you have it." He called back. Victor, AC, and Bart called out their drink orders to and Chloe smiled sheepishly while Oliver grabbed the drinks.

After everyone had stuffed themselves on Chloe's buffet and relaxed a little bit John leaned forward. "I really appreciate what you guys did, but could someone explain to me exactly what that was?" He looked around the table. "What was going on?"

"What do you remember?" Oliver asked.

"I was in an accident, roadside bomb in Afghanistan." John said. "But they fixed me up. Doc said I was going home to rehab. Suddenly these MP's are taking me away in the middle of the night, they bring me to this…place, it looked like a hospital but not."

Chloe looked over at Oliver then at Bendis. "Do you know where that was?"

"No ma'am." He shook his head. "I wish I did."

"Was there anyone else there?" Oliver asked. "Any other…patients?"

"No." He sighed with relief. "None that I could see anyway. The Doctors there kept telling me that as soon as I was healed, they were going to help me to serve my country better. I thought I was serving it just fine."

"You were." Chloe smiled at him. "Did they do tests on you? Take blood, give you anything?"

"They gave me this cocktail they called it." He tried to remember exactly what happened. "Once a week at first then once a day. They said it would help with the transition. They wouldn't let me talk to anyone, my parents, my wife."

"They think your dead." Victor said stonily. He knew what that was like.

"They told them I was dead?" John leaned back in his seat.

"Yeah well your dad didn't believe it." Chloe smiled at him. "He knew something was wrong when they didn't get a body."

John smiled slightly. "After my wounds were healed, they gave me physical therapy and then they started running me through these tests, endurance test. Treadmill miles and laps in a swimming pool. Then a few days ago, they moved me, doped me up in the hospital and then I woke up in that room, that cell. And then you guys showed up."

Oliver processed his story and tried to fill in the blanks. This man was a decorated Marine, he had an inherent since of Justice and right and wrong and he wasn't going to take some made up story like the one Chloe had given Susan. "Have you ever heard of Project Ares?" Oliver ventured.

There was some recognition on his face. "There were rumors about it. Stronger, faster soldiers." Oliver nodded. "We all thought it was bull, some six million dollar man crap."

"It's not." Oliver said. "The project ran for three years before it was shut down when the test subjects went crazy and broke away from the army's control."

"You mean to tell me they did it?" John asked. "They created super soldiers?"

"A few." Oliver said. "But they weren't soldiers anymore. Not after what was done to them."

Chloe jumped in. "They basically wiped their brains and reprogrammed them, made them forget who they were, that they had family, the only thing they gave them were orders and that's all they knew."

"What happened to them?" John asked.

"Killed." Oliver said. "Before they could kill anyone else." John just nodded, he was a soldier, he understood.

"Look, I know the last thing you want to see is a lab or a hospital or a needle but we really need to make sure that they didn't…" Chloe trailed off.

"Turn me into one of the super soldiers?" John smiled. "It's ok. I understand."

"It should only take a day, a few blood tests." Oliver said. "I can set it up for tomorrow."

"Then what?" John asked. "If I've been changed, I understand what you have to do but what if I'm fine?" He looked around the table. "My family thinks I'm dead. The government thinks I'm dead, what happens to me then?"

"What do you want?" Chloe asked him. "We could get you a new name, a new identity, set you up somewhere."

"I want to go back." John said. "To see my wife, my mom and dad, to my job."

Oliver looked at Chloe who just smiled. "Let me see what I can do." She got up and walked away and Oliver turned to Victor.

"Can one of you guys set him up for the night?"

"No problem." Victor said. "He can stay at my place."

John nodded and followed Victor, Bart, and AC out of Chloe's apartment as Oliver put the food away. "Do you really think you can get him back to his life? Is it even safe?"

"Lex wouldn't take him again, that would be suicide. A guy goes missing once, happens, a guy goes missing twice, people ask questions."

"How are you going to do it?" Oliver asked her.

"Leave the heavy lifting to me." Chloe smiled up at him from her spot in front of the computer. "You just stand there and look pretty."

Oliver smiled. "I should be insulted by that, but you know what? I'm really not." He said his goodnights and left.

* * *

The next day John was given a clean bill of health from Oliver's lab. The only thing they managed to find in his system were trace amounts of the sedative that was given to him and increased vitamin levels. "So how do I go home?" John was pacing in Chloe's apartment as Bart and AC played Halo in the living room. "The army declared me dead, how do you even start to fix that?" Chloe just smiled and nodded behind him.

"By having friends in high places." Martha Kent smiled as she got out of Chloe's elevator. "Chloe, my god, you look so great."

"Ms. Kent." Chloe stood up and gave the woman a hug.

"Did I hear what I think I just heard?" Bart super speeded into the room and practically knocked her down trying to give her a hug. "Hey Ms. K."

"Bart." She brushed the hair out of his eyes. "You staying out of trouble?"

"You know me." He shrugged.

"That means no." Martha laughed.

"What can I say?" Bart shrugged.

"Hey Ms. Kent." Victor walked in the room and hugged her. "How are you doing?"

"Fine." She smiled. "You know everyone here has cleaned out my fridge at some point in time." She laughed.

"And now they clean out Chloe's." Oliver said from behind her. "It's good to see you again Senator."

"Oliver." She waved him off. "It's Martha, please." She surprised him by giving him a hug but he recovered quick enough to hug her back.

"So." She looked around the room. "Let's figure this one out." She sat down at the table and Chloe followed her with stacks of printouts from her computer.

"She's a Senator?" John asked.

"Chloe's pretty resourceful when she wants to be." Oliver said.

"Hey Oliver." Chloe called. "Why don't you make yourself useful and start a pot of coffee. It's gonna be a long night."

After working well into the morning Chloe and Martha still hadn't managed a way to get John back to the Marines without immediately getting him discharged for going AWOL. "It can be done." Chloe said. "I'm positive."

"You got anymore friends in high places?" John chuckled.

Chloe looked up suddenly. "No." She smiled bigger. "But I've got family."

The next morning Chloe paced back and forth in front of the penthouse and drove everyone crazy. "Get your feet off the table." She slapped AC and he glared at her as he took his feet off the coffee table. "Did you brush your hair this morning?" Chloe asked licking her fingers and heading for Bart who super speeded to hide behind Oliver who was holding a cup of coffee for Chloe. "Is that plain, regular, every day coffee, because he hates fancy coffees and especially vanilla flavors."

"Chloe you need to relax." Oliver laughed.

"Dude she's out of control." Bart said. "She tried to do the mom hair fix on me."

Chloe looked down at the hand she had licked and sighed. "I'm sorry guys, I just…I want him to…"

"He's gonna be proud of you Chloe." Oliver said. "How could he not?"

"Cause I haven't spoken to him in five years and I'm calling him to drop the mother of all problems in his lap?" Chloe offered. "Did you shave with a dull rock this morning?" She grabbed his face and twisted his head back and forth.

Oliver just raised his eyebrows and backed away. "You guys are on your own." He raised his hands as if he'd given up on her.

The elevator bell rang and Chloe's back went rigid. Everyone looked, anxious to see who had Chloe, one of the most bad ass people they knew, basically shaking in her boots. "Where's my little soldier?" A booming voice asked and Chloe seemed to turn into a little girl. She squealed, she actually squealed and ran over to the man in full uniform.

"General." Chloe hugged him and he laughed as he spun her around a little. "I'm so glad you could make it, can I get you coffee?"

"Love some." He looked around. "Nice place." He whistled then looked concerned for a minute. "You don't live with all these men do you?"

Victor chuckled and Chloe glared at him. "No, they work with me." She handed him the coffee and seemed to relax when he took a sip and smiled. "I'm just, so glad you came."

"You called and said it was an emergency." He grunted as he sat down at her table. "Last time you said that, I had to sneak you out of an exploding building."

"Those were the days." Chloe laughed uneasily and sat down waving John over. "General, I want you to meet Major John Bendis."

John snapped to attention and saluted. The General nodded at him. "At ease soldier." He looked the man up and down then turned to Chloe.

"We kinda need your help." She smiled sheepishly and told the General about Lex's lab and where Bendis had really been and hoped that he could help them.

"It's not Lois, it's not even Lucy, though God knows she tries, it's you, you're the one that keeps raising my blood pressure." The General looked at her. But he didn't call her crazy, he didn't tell her she was being ridiculous, because he knew, he'd heard the rumors when Wes went missing, truly one of the few good men he knew. Chloe smiled at him sheepishly and Oliver nodded as if he was in the same boat, blood pressure wise. "Major." The General stood up. "Is this what you want?"

"I want to do my job." John said. "I want to serve my country, and I want to see my family."

The General looked between Chloe and John and sighed. "I can work something out, say I commandeered you for something, deep cover, black ops, I'll figure it out." Chloe jumped up and hugged the General and he looked uncomfortable. "You need to have letters you wrote to home or something, three months worth, back dated, if you can fake an address mix up and get some postage stamps on them that would be even better." This was directed at Chloe.

"No problem." She said.

"I'll take care of the transfer orders and the leave orders. You'll go home, be completely surprised and shocked that your family thought you were dead and call your Commanding Officer. Give him my name and I'll work the rest out." The General turned to Chloe. "Have you got someone that can take care of the bureaucratic end of this mess?"

"Senator Kent." Chloe said.

"I'll give her a call, we'll work on it. You just fake ignorance. I'll have to up your security clearance so you can say you aren't allowed to talk about where you were, so there won't be any awkward questions."

"I really appreciate this sir." John nodded at the General. "Ma'am." He nodded to Chloe.

"Give me a few days to get this stuff processed and lost ok?"

Chloe nodded. "No problem, it'll give us time to set things up on our end." Chloe smiled. "Thank you." Chloe smiled sincerely at her Uncle and walked him to the elevator. "I really appreciate this."

"You uh…doing ok?" He looked around her Penthouse. "Need anything? Money?"

"No." Chloe smiled.

"You still got some of those Smoke bombs I gave you? Running low?" She shook her head. "How about the Flash Grenades?" Oliver and company looked on in amusement.

"Right." Chloe scoffed. "Like I'm gonna get my Flash Grenades from the US Army, do you have any idea what your mark up is on those? I got a guy in Budapest, ten cents on the dollar."

"I don't need to hear this." The General smiled. "Take care of yourself."

"Will do." Chloe smiled. The General left and Chloe went to the kitchen to whip up some lunch. She found Oliver and the guys staring at her. "What?"

"You've got a guy in Budapest?" He asked with his eyebrows raised.

"Yeah he's great." Chloe said. "Why? Where's your guy? Is he closer, because I've been trying to find someone local, but they're all a little shady."

"I don't have a guy." Oliver said astonished.

"You should have a guy." Chloe told him popping a carrot in her mouth as she cut up the vegetables. "I'll get you the number for my guy. He's really good." She smiled and went back to her chopping.

* * *

A week later John sat impatiently in front of his house as Chloe fussed with him. "You got the letters?" She asked.

John held up a stack of letters that looked to the outside observer as if they'd traveled all over the world and back. Which apparently they had. Lucky for them, John and his wife Mary were working on a move when he was taken and she'd gone ahead with it after she found out he was dead, so realistically he could have been working special ops and sending his wife letters to the wrong address for three months. They were all stamped return to sender and even had different Military Postage stamps on them, with the dates sent and returned.

"You got your passport?" Chloe asked.

John nodded. The kid, the one who ran fast, went everywhere John would have gone on the flight plan Chloe had made up for him and gotten the official passport stamp. And amazingly, the kid did it in two hours. "How about your souvenirs?" John held up the bag full of gifts that the kid had dropped at his feet when he came back with the passport.

"You didn't think you could just come back home after being dead for three months without bringing gifts did you?" He smiled and was given praise from Chloe for his quick thinking, something it was obvious the kid was always pinning for. He'd gotten a few things for his wife and some for his parents and even a few things to make it seem like he bought himself some stuff to remember the trip by.

"I think he's good Chloe." Oliver smiled at her.

"I'm just…I want to make sure." Chloe said.

"Ma'am." John grabbed her hand as she moved to fix straighten another pin on his uniform. "I'm fine." He smiled at her and she relaxed a little. "I'm better than fine thanks to you guys. I don't know how I'll ever be able to repay you."

"I do." Oliver said looking out the window. "How about you go give your wife a hug."

They looked over and out the window to see a woman walking cautiously onto the front porch with a phone in her hand staring at the car that had been parked in the front of her driveway for twenty minutes now. He nodded at Chloe and Oliver, grabbed his bags and opened the door. The driver started to pull away but Chloe stopped him.

"We never get to see this part." Chloe said and she and Oliver leaned closer to the window to watch as the woman froze in mid step and then, when she recognized him, dropped the phone to the ground and ran to John, jumping in his arms as he spun her around, tears in her eyes. "Ok." Chloe turned away from the scene. "We can go now."


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: I feel so lame. Someone so graciously pointed out to me that in two places in this story I refered to Chloe as Willow. It has been fixed, everything is good. I was watching an old episode of Buffy when I wrote this and I'm pretty much just an idiot. It's sad really because I read this thing through like 50 times and never caught it. NelStar7 is officiall the man.

* * *

Chloe yawned as she quickly pulled something up on the screen. "Left, no right, sorry." She took a long sip of coffee and shook her head, trying to wake herself up. "Right at the next corridor and you should see the control room." She was leading them on yet another mission given to them by Cassandra. In the past few months, following the rescue of Major Bendis, who Chloe had just checked on and was doing fine, baby on the way apparently, they'd gotten a few more letters from Susan with Cryptic messages from Cassandra sending them on what always seemed at first like wild goose chases but turned out to be more important. She was helping them learn more and more about Lex. It wasn't all secret 33.1 labs or projects that kidnapped and experimented on people, he was apparently a lot more crafty and a lot more sinister than they realized.

"Sound a little tired there Watchtower." Cyborg said to her. "We keeping you up?"

"It's three in the morning here." She replied.

"You can sleep when you're dead." Impulse said. "I'm good to go. Impulse out."

"Good job. Cyborg finish up and meet them on the outside."

"Sounds like a plan." Cyborg said.

"Watchtower." Green Arrow said. "Care to lead me out of here."

"Sure thing." Chloe yawned again and turned to the security monitors. This wasn't a smash and grab, this was a stealth mission. The guys were inside a very legit research hospital in Maine. Apparently Lex had been secretly monitoring a few of the research teams, stealing their findings and then replacing their results to make it seem as if they were on the wrong track when in reality they were doing everything right. Cassandra it seemed had formed somewhat of a sense of humor, asking them to please not blow up the place, just stop Lex from getting the information. Cyborg was in the main server, making sure that Lex couldn't get back into the system while Impulse, Aquaman, and Green Arrow went through and methodically cleaned out all hidden cameras and bugs in the research labs. The only problem was, they didn't want anyone to know they had been there. They couldn't take out the guards without raising suspicion or even mess with the security system too much. Chloe had to hack in and very carefully hide all images of them from whatever room or hallway they went in at the same time making sure they steered clear of security. She was erasing the last bit of footage from the server room, making sure no one knew Cyborg was in there when her screens went dead.

"What?" She typed something rapidly and still nothing happened.

"Watchtower, I feel like a sitting duck out here."

"I lost my feed." Chloe said. All her other systems worked so it had to have something to do with the facilities feed.

"What does that mean?" Green Arrow asked.

"It means, I'm blind here, I've got no visual." Chloe told him. "I can't guide you out."

"Shit." Green Arrow said.

"I'm on it." Impulse said suddenly. "I'll scout ahead; let you know when the coast is clear."

"No, you're all ready out. Watchtower get that feed back up." Green Arrow said.

"I'm trying." Chloe groaned. "There's nothing wrong with the system or the connections…it's…" She stopped mid sentence.

"What?" Green Arrow asked.

"Someone hijacked my feed?" Chloe said incredulously. "Seriously?"

"What does that mean?" AC piped in.

"It means someone got into the system using Chloe's connection then shut her out of it." Cyborg said. "I can tap in remote, guide you through the halls." Cyborg said.

"Watchtower…" Green Arrow said.

"Not now, I've got to find whoever tapped into the feed so I can get back in and finish deleting the video." Chloe said typing rapidly. "Stealing my feed, do you have any idea who I am?" Chloe mumbled under her breath. She typed rapidly screen after screen popping up and disappearing as she worked. "Almost there." Chloe smiled triumphantly. "Gotcha." She leaned forward and read the information. "Oh shit." She said to herself as one word stared back at her. "Brainwave."

* * *

Chloe quickly got over the resurfacing of old enemies and took her feed back to finish what she'd started but it was all gone, the video for the day, all of it was gone. "This can't be good." She said quietly as she sat back and tried to figure out what to do next. Then suddenly an alarm went off, one that told Chloe someone had just hacked into her computer. "This is even worse." She said sitting forward and typing as fast as she could, finally after about five minutes getting her out and plugging the hole she'd used to get in. 

"How did someone get into our system? You and Victor spent weeks making sure that it was impenetrable." Oliver asked after they got back and Chloe explained everything that happened to them.

"They didn't." She said not looking up. "They got into the lab's system and climbed onto ours." She turned to face him. "Piggyback." She said. "But that doesn't matter, I found it fast, locked them out, I don't think they got much if anything, but whoever it was took the video of you guys, all the stuff I didn't have time to erase."

"So someone knew we were there?" AC asked.

"No, I don't think so, I think they were after something else, they just stumbled upon us, that's not the bad news." She stood up. "The person who did it, who stole the video, who stole my feed, that's the problem."

"Who is it?" Victor asked.

"Does the name Molly Griggs mean anything to you?" Chloe asked.

"Molly Griggs." Oliver said slowly as if trying to trigger a memory. "Nick Yang, Bart you ran into them once remember."

"So you know about them." Chloe said.

"Molly does something with computers." Bart said distractedly, playing some game on his phone. "Hey maybe she stole your feed."

"Welcome to the party." Victor chuckled.

"You don't understand." Chloe shook her head. "Molly doesn't just do stuff with computers, she kills with computers." Chloe explained to them what happened her junior year of high school, how Molly sent hypnotizing e-mails that forced her friends to try and kill her. "And she tried to get Lex to kill himself with one too. He locked her up in 33.1 and she's been trying to take him down too, only she's not really doing it the right way."

"Yeah." AC said. "Sounds like she's doing it the crazy psycho way."

"Cause she's a crazy psycho." Chloe pointed out. "I'm worried." Chloe sighed.

"Why because she stole our video?" Oliver said. "What can she do with it? She wasn't supposed to be in the system either, she can't turn us in."

"Yeah but if I traced her, she could trace me. She already got into our system, who knows what info she found before I locked her out." Chloe said. "And she sort of still hates me."

"You don't think she'd try to kill you again?" Victor asked.

A loud crash turned their attention to Bart's phone slamming to the ground as a red blur sped through the room. Suddenly he was standing in front of Chloe with the large candlestick holder that used to sit on the floor by the elevator. He brought it down toward her head but was pushed out of the way by Victor at the last second. He didn't miss her completely, but instead of getting the full force in her head, it grazed down her arm, it still hurt but at least she was alive.

Victor slammed Bart into the wall as Oliver helped Chloe up off the ground, grabbing her arm to check for damages. "What the hell?" Bart said looking around as if he'd just woken up. "What's going on guys?" He looked around the room as four people stared at him incredulously. "I just got the strangest e-mail."

"Does that answer your question?" Chloe looked at Oliver.

* * *

"I'm so sorry." Bart said. "What can I do to make it up to you?" 

"Nothing Bart, I'm fine." Chloe adjusted her neck, the sling that Oliver insisted she wear due to the dislocated shoulder Bart had given her was killing her.

"No, I know." Her papers rustled with the wind he left behind as he ran out of the room and just as they'd settled another burst followed when he returned. "Double Mocha Fudge?" He held out the container of ice cream to her. "Your absolute favorite."

"I'm not really hungry Bart." Chloe winced again as he blurred out of sight. A few minutes later he came back. "I can make you some coffee, this is that stuff from Hawaii you always talk about."

"Really I'm fine." Chloe assured him with a sad smile.

"I tried to kill you Chloe." He set the coffee beans on the counter and frowned. "That was not cool and you are not fine."

"Bart, just chill." AC said walking in the room.

"You know what I want?" Chloe asked the room at large. "To go to work."

"Where everyone there is completely reliant on e-mail?" Oliver scoffed. "Not likely. I really don't want to have to rescue you from a mob of office workers trying to staple you to death." He handed her aspirin and a glass of water. "You're working from home until we figure this thing out."

"What good is that gonna do?" Chloe said. "I can't figure this out unless you let me near the computer."

"Look, I know about all that self preservation, the brain won't let someone kill themselves crap, but you said it yourself, she created a better program, and she was willing to try it on Lex so my guess is, it probably would have worked." Oliver reminded her. Chloe glared at him and sighed. "The guys are going to stay with you, make sure you don't get on the computer, and make sure no one else in the building tries to kill you."

Chloe spent the whole day at home, unable to get any work done because she couldn't use the computer and too annoyed at Oliver to do anything else. Bart, Victor, and AC played video games until lunch which Victor insisted on going to get because he didn't want risk any delivery men attacking her with chopsticks or something.

"I'm gonna go get the new game." Bart said getting up from the couch and walking to the elevator. "I'm so bored with this."

"Fine." AC sighed, changing the game to one player as Chloe cleaned up for lack of anything better to do. "What the hell?" AC groaned from the living room. "Damn thing froze again." He got up and walked to the game console but froze before he was halfway there.

"Why don't you guys just get a new one?" Chloe offered. "It's always freezing up on you, it's not like you're hurting for money." AC turned to her a blank expression on his face. "AC?" She sad before dropping the rag she was holding and backing up slowly as he advanced on her.

She tried to make it to the elevator but he grabbed her first and slammed her up against the wall, his fingers tightening around her throat. "Please." Chloe begged him hoarsely as he gripped even tighter, shutting off her airway.

"Ok, I got sandwiches from the deli on the corner and because I'm a nice guy grabbed a burrito for Bart." Victor walked out of the elevator and heard Chloe kicking the wall, trying to get free. "Hey man." He ran and tossed AC aside and moved Chloe out of the way as AC came back for more. "Why did he get on the computer?" Victor asked. "He knows better."

"He didn't." Chloe coughed, holding her throat. She looked in the living room. "The Xbox." She said suddenly. "It has a wireless connection doesn't it?"

"Shit." Victor said attacking AC before he could get another shot at Chloe and knocking him to the ground hard. AC slammed his head against the wood floors and looked around confused.

"How did I get over here?" He asked and Victor sighed letting him up.

"This one is only a two player so we'll have to take turns…" Bart stopped and looked at the three of them. "What did I miss?"

* * *

"No video games now, are you serious?" Chloe sipped her tea slowly as Bart watched AC pack up the play station. 

"No video games." Oliver said. "No cell phones, no computers, no handheld electronic devices of any kind." He stood there with a plastic container as Victor emptied his pockets and AC tossed his cell phone in it.

"Maybe I should just leave for a while, go to England, see Edward, or Smallville." Chloe whispered. Her voice was coming back but slowly and painfully.

"They have e-mail in England, and Smallville." Oliver pointed out as Victor finished completely unhooking her computer and taping off all the wires. He glared at her and she dug her phone out of her pocket before putting it in the box.

"It's not fair to make you guys suffer though." Chloe stood up and stretched.

"It'll be good for them, live like the pioneers." Oliver joked. "Maybe they'll even read a book."

Chloe snorted and shook her head. The rest of the day was probably what Dante had in mind when describing the ninth circle of hell. She was stuck in her apartment with Bart for two hours of excruciating boredom, until AC came to relieve him and then there was another four hours of boredom followed by Victor's shift which took up another two hours of boredom. Chloe was looking at the clock, wondering if 5 o'clock was too early to start diner when the phone rang. She and Victor both ran for it and Chloe smiled when she got there first. "Hello." She said desperately, she'd gladly talk to a telemarketer or political pollster at this point in time but no luck, it was Oliver.

"Hey, look I hate to do this to you but in all the excitement we forgot what today was."

"And that would be?" Chloe asked opening the fridge and trying to find something to cook that would take a few hours at the least.

"The Fundraiser for the Arts Council. Elizabeth called Cara to coordinate and I completely forgot about it." He sighed. "I know we've got this computer assassin going on and I know you hate this type of thing but Elizabeth reminded me that you were on the committee and you kind of have to go."

"God yes." Chloe said not caring two cents about the art council at this moment but caring a great deal about getting out of this house. "I worked my ass off to raise money for art and stuff, we have to go."

Oliver laughed, not fooled by her philanthropy. "I figured you'd say that. I've got a little to finish up here but I'll be by to pick you up in two hours, that sound ok?"

"Fine." Chloe said smiling. She hung up the phone and started getting ready, something that if she stretched it out long enough could last the whole two hours until Oliver got there. She managed to stretch it out enough that she still wasn't ready when Oliver came to get her.

"Chloe, we're gonna be late." He called out.

"I know, I'm waiting on my shoes." She walked out of the bedroom putting in her earrings. "I sent Bart to go pick them up."

"Pick them up?" Oliver asked.

"Yeah they're not here." She smiled.

"Where are they?"

"At Edwards." Chloe said holding out her wrist so Oliver could fasten the charm bracelet.

"You sent Bart to London for a pair of shoes?" He raised his eyebrows.

"No." Chloe said. "I sent Bart to London for my favorite most comfortable pair of shoes."

"Oh." Oliver nodded. "That makes sense now." He rolled his eyes as she sat down waiting for Bart. The elevator bell dinged and he walked in holding a pair of black shoes in his hands.

"Please tell me these are the right ones?" He asked, sounding exhausted.

"Perfect." She grabbed the shoes from him as he collapsed against the kitchen counter.

"Look a little tired there Impulse." Oliver said. "You need more exercise if one little trip to London tires you this much."

"One little trip?" He asked incredulous as he stuffed his face with leftovers. "One trip? Try five."

"Five?" Oliver turned to Chloe. "Five trips?"

"He kept getting the wrong pair." Chloe shrugged.

"Yeah well black heels with straps isn't a lot to go on." Bart pointed out. "Do you know how many of your shoes that describes."

"If someone hadn't taken away our phones, he could have sent me pictures and it would have taken a lot less time." Chloe stood up, her shoes now on.

"Unbelievable." Oliver said under his breath. "You ready now?"

"I just need to get my wrap." Chloe said walking into her bedroom as Bart took five Tupperware's into the living room. The phone rang and Oliver looked around.

"I'll get it." He sighed picking up the phone only to practically drop it when he heard a high pitched tone, like someone was trying to fax something.

"What was that?" Bart asked, his mouth full. But Oliver didn't answer. He'd hung up the phone and headed in the direction of the bedroom.

"I can't find the silver one." Chloe said when Oliver walked in. "Just a second, I know we're late, can you grab the black on off the bed?"

Oliver looked at the black wrap on the bed and picked it up, staring at it for a second. "Thanks." Chloe walked over to take it from him and he held tight to it. "Oliver?" She asked backing away slowly, knowing something was wrong. She wasn't quick enough though and as she turned to run he put the wrap over her head and tightened it around her throat, cutting off her air supply.

Chloe tried to get away, to find anything to use to fight back but she couldn't. Oliver pulled her closer, tightening the fabric around her throat and she shoved herself against him, trying to get a little room. He fell into the dresser and bottles of perfume skidded off the top and onto the floor where they smashed. "Everything ok?" Bart called from the living room as Chloe slammed her healed shoe into Oliver's foot. It surprised him enough to let her go and she choked on the air as she ran to the living room.

"Oliver." Chloe managed to say to Bart. He jumped up from the couch as Oliver came out of the room, a look of determination on his face as he headed for Chloe. He reached her in two strides and slapped her across the face, sending her flying into the opposite wall of the room. Bart super speeded between them and tried to hit Oliver but was tossed aside like nothing more than an annoying fly. He fell into the kitchen, sliding on the floor until he was stopped by his head slamming into a cabinet.

He saw Chloe trying to pull herself up from the floor as Oliver got closer to her, picking up a large candle holder and wielding it as a weapon. "Hit him in the head." Chloe called to Bart. "It should snap him out of it."

Bart looked around the kitchen then reached up to the pot rack pulling down a skillet. He ran over to Oliver and winced. "Sorry Boss, this is gonna hurt." He swung fast and hard and the skillet connected with a satisfying clang as Oliver crumpled to the floor. "I'm so getting fired for that." Bart said dropping the skillet and helping Chloe up.

Oliver woke up groggy and confused as Bart brought him an ice pack for his head. Chloe was sitting on the couch drinking tea to sooth her throat again, she was really tired of almost being strangled. "Sorry." Oliver said wincing as he moved the icepack around.

"Guess we're not going to the fundraiser." Chloe said hoarsely. "I'll have a black eye in another couple of hours and this would be pretty hard to explain." She lifted her head and Oliver saw an ugly red mark where he tried to strangle her. "And you owe me a $3,000.00 pair of shoes." She held up her shoes with her other hand and Oliver saw one strap was broken and a heel had snapped off.

"Can I just repeat how sorry I am?" Oliver asked.

"It wasn't your fault." Chloe said. "We didn't even think about the phones. She's always been visual you know, but sound waves can do the same thing as pictures and colors."

"So she hypnotized me with that noise?" Oliver asked.

"Basically yeah." Chloe shrugged.

"God. I feel so horrible about this." He ran his hand through his hair, wincing again when he hit his head. "Wait, those shoes cost $3,000.00?"

Chloe smiled tossed the shoes over her shoulder. "So can we maybe get proactive about this now?" She raised her eyebrows. "A good offense is the best defense?"

"I don't think…" Oliver started.

"She's just going to keep trying until we stop her, and we can't stop her unless I can get to a computer, leave the house, do my job." Chloe told him.

"But I can't guarantee your safety." Oliver pointed out.

"Oliver, you took away every piece of electronic equipment I owned, kept me locked in my house for two days only to try and kill me yourself." She reminded him. "There are no guarantees."

"But there's a difference between trying to be careful and inviting trouble."

"I'm going crazy here, to the point where I might just kill myself to get out of this apartment." She joked with him. "We can't sit around and do nothing."

"I know." He sighed. "Ok, fine. But you're not getting online unless it's absolutely necessary."

"I can deal with that." Chloe said.

* * *

She wasn't allowed in the office yet, Chloe was on the same page as Oliver with that one, a building full of people connected to the internet was inviting trouble but at least he let her out of the house. Much to everyone's amusement, after being cooped up in the apartment for a few days the only place Chloe wanted to go was the grocery store. Bart had eaten all of her food and cooking helped her think, stay calm. 

She walked back into her building, arms full with the grocery bags, with Victor, her body guard for the day when they were stopped at the front desk. "Miss Sullivan?" Barry the concierge smiled. "A Doctor Yen left this for you." He held out an envelope.

"Victor can you grab that?" Chloe asked as she dug around for her keys to the elevator.

"Sure." He took it from Barry and Chloe called triumphantly as she pulled her keys out. When they got in the elevator she inserted the key in the slot and looked at him. "Doctor Yen? Is that someone from Oliver's lab?"

Victor shrugged and opened the envelope pulling out what looked to Chloe like a playing card. It feel to the ground of the elevator as it started rising and Victor turned to her. "What was it?" Chloe asked confused as he moved closer. "Victor?" She backed up against the wall and he reached for her. She dropped her bags, ducked and got on the other side of him. "What the hell, there's no internet in here, no phone." She screamed. They were only on the twelfth floor. "Snap out of it." Chloe said grabbing her purse and slamming it into the side of his head, but unlike AC and Bart who woke up when they'd been hit, Victor just kept coming and he slapped her across the face, sending her flying into the back wall of the elevator. She slid to the floor in pain as he leaned over her and she dug her mace out of her purse and sprayed it in his eyes just as the elevator opened. He screamed and grabbed his face as she crawled through his leg and out into her apartment, praying that the doors would close before he realized what was going on. She had no phone, no way to communicate; Oliver had taken everything, so she screamed.

"Help."

"You don't have to yell, I'm coming." Bart said from the other room and all Chloe could think was thank god. But Victor had heard both of them and was turning around to head in the direction Chloe's voice had come from. "Holy crap." Bart said when he got into the room and grabbed some decorative vase off the side table and ran to Victor, smashing him in the head. It barely fazed him. "How'd she get to him?" Bart asked as Victor flicked Bart away like an annoying fly.

"I don't know." Chloe stood up and backed away. "We've got to get out of here." Chloe said.

"On it." Bart ran over, picked her up and ran then to the elevator before Victor even noticed they were gone.

Chloe leaned against the wall and caught her breath and stared at the mess of produce and dairy products strewn over the floor. "There's goes diner." She sighed picking everything up when she noticed the envelope Victor had grabbed from the front desk. She picked it up and saw that there had in fact been a playing card inside. She looked at the card and flipped it over. "Queen of Diamonds." Chloe said, something familiar tugging at the back of her mind.

"What are you doing on my computer?" Oliver ran further into his apartment and grabbed Chloe pulling her away from the machine.

"Relax, she's not going to come after me." Chloe said. "She's found herself the perfect soldier."

"What is she talking about?" Oliver asked. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Victor attacked her at her apartment." Bart said. "And we couldn't snap him out of it."

"What do you mean, when we got hit in the head, it was over." Oliver said.

"I've been thinking about that." Chloe said. "I think, she's using Victor himself as the delivery system and the brain."

"Explain." Oliver sat down.

"She knows about Cyborg." Chloe said. "She's the one who stole our video footage remember, and he used his, internal computer to hack into the network to lead you out. Well I think she hacked into him."

"She hacked into him?" Oliver asked.

"He's got a wireless connection built in, it was part of your upgrade package, he's a giant walking internet connected computer." Chloe pointed out. "I think she sent the message straight to him."

"So she can just access him from anywhere at any time?" Oliver sounded incredulous. "Has he been walking around this whole time just waiting to get you alone?"

"Not really." Chloe said. "It's just like with you guys. Bart had to see the e-mail, AC saw the image on the TV screen, and you heard it the phone. She stored the message inside Victor but his brain still had to access it somehow. The problem is, Victor is completely connected to his system, so unlike you guys, he can't get away from the signal. Bart dropped the PDA, AC turned off the television, you hung up the phone, the signal stopped, but the signal is inside Victor, there's no disconnection."

"Can we interrupt the signal with something?" Oliver asked.

"A magnet." AC said. "Like a really big magnet, that wipes hard drives doesn't it?"

"No." Chloe sighed. "I've been going over the files from his upgrade; the upgrade is connected to but not a part of his cybernetic system. Anything, like a magnet, will take out the upgrade but it will also take out the cyber system and unfortunately that's what controls most of his organ functions. I'm trying to figure out how to disconnect the upgrade, the connection without damaging the cybernetic system."

Oliver closed his eyes in frustration. "You said he had to access the file? How did that happen?"

Chloe pulled out the Queen of Diamonds playing card. "She used this, a visual trigger, telling his brain to access the file, which started the brainwash,

"What is this?" Oliver flipped the card over. "Is it dangerous?"

"No." Chloe chuckled. "It's just a playing card. She's got a since of humor, that's all. It was left at my front desk by a Doctor Yen."

"I don't follow." Oliver shook his head.

"You're telling me you haven't seen the Manchurian Candidate."

"You mean the movie with the creepy guy and Denz…" Bart started.

"If you say Denzel Washington I'll slap you." Chloe warned him. "That was not the Manchurian Candidate. I mean the original with Frank Sinatra, anyone?" They all shook their heads. "OK so you know the point of the movie, the main character was brainwashed into doing all these things, the guys who gave the orders was named Doctor Yen." Chloe said. "And he triggered the episodes with a Queen of Diamonds playing card." They all seemed to nod in understanding.

"Victor's in there somewhere." Chloe said. "This has got to be killing him. I remember, he told me about how it felt when Lex tried to take over, when he had no control over himself, how he stopped feeling human, and started felling like a machine, he hated that."

"We'll get him back." Oliver assured her.

Chloe stayed at Oliver's to scared to go back to her place incase Victor was still there. But she couldn't sleep, she'd figured it out a few hours ago, what she had to do to save Victor, and it was tying her stomach up in knots. "You need to sleep." Oliver said from the doorway to the guest room.

"I can't." Chloe said. "I figured it out." She looked up at him sadly. "How to stop him."

"That's good news isn't it?"

"No." Chloe shook her head. "It's really not." She sighed.

"Is there another way?" Oliver asked.

"Without killing him?" Chloe said. "No."

"You gotta do what you gotta do." Oliver said. Chloe smiled and nodded at him. "Get some sleep." He said sadly and left her alone again.

* * *

"Remind me again why we're tracking down the guy who's trying to kill you?" Bart asked the next day as they approached the warehouse. 

"Because I need to be with him, to sever the connection, I can't do it remotely." Chloe said.

"Right." Bart said. "Still seems like a stupid plan." He looked down at the GPS signal in his hand. After Bart had been capture by Lex, Oliver had one installed in each of them for safety. "Two more blocks."

"So what is the plan exactly?" AC asked.

"We keep him from killing Chloe so she can do what she needs to fix him." Oliver said.

"That's a pretty vague plan." AC whispered and Oliver glared.

"Here we go." Bart turned down an alleyway and they saw a door to a warehouse. "Who wants to go in first?"

Oliver stepped forward and kicked the door open. "After you." He smiled at Bart who walked in slowly. They all followed him and Chloe brought up the rear immediately sitting on the ground and pulling her computer out of her bag. The guys formed a semi-circle around her, their eyes peeled for danger when AC was thrown to the ground by Victor, who'd jumped down on top of him from the rafters. "As fast as you can Chloe." Oliver said jumping in to defend AC.

Bart headed for the fight and Chloe held out a hand to stop him. "Wait." She pulled something out of her bag, a long cord and plugged it into her computer. "I need you to plug this into the jack in his arm." She typed a little more and then handed on end to Bart who looked a little skeptical. "Just hurry."

"Hold him guys." Bart said running over and slipping the plug into Victor.

"Don't let him pull it out." Chloe said typing again.

"Faster would be better." Oliver said as he, AC, and Bart struggled to keep hold of Victor.

"It's almost done downloading…there." Chloe said.

"It didn't do anything." Oliver said as Victor broke free, tossed Oliver across the room and pulled the plug from his arm.

"I haven't activated it yet." Chloe said as he tossed AC and Bart out of his way and turned on her.

"Activate it." Bart screamed. "Activate it."

"I'm so sorry." Chloe said sadly and he slapped her hard, sending her to the ground. "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious." Chloe said as he reached out for her. His hand froze in mid air then fell to his side and his head tilted forward.

Bart walked over and waved a hand in front of his face. "Whoa." He smiled. "That is so cool, is he sleeping?"

"No." Chloe pulled herself up. "He's off." She looked over at Oliver then at the statue still figure of Victor. "I turned him off." She grabbed her computer and started packing it up.

"Go get the car." Oliver told them. "We need to get him back to the lab, so they can delete the programming."

AC and Bart nodded and walked out. They could tell that Chloe was upset but they didn't really understand. "You did what you had to do." Oliver told her.

"Yeah?" Chloe frowned. "He's a person Oliver, and I just hit his power button, like turning off the television." She slung the bag over her shoulder and walked to the door.

"Wait for the car." He pleaded with her.

"I think I'm gonna walk." Chloe smiled sadly. Oliver just nodded.

* * *

Victor was in the lab for most of the day, getting his hard drive basically whipped and rewritten. While everyone greeted Victor in Chloe's living room she stayed on the balcony, not sure if she was wanted at the welcome home party. He made his way outside a few minutes later and coughed. Chloe took a deep breath and turned around. 

"I'm sorry." They both said at the same time and then broke out into smiles.

"Why are you sorry?" Chloe asked.

"I tried to kill you?" He reminded her.

"Yeah, well so did everyone else this week, that's old news." Chloe shrugged it off.

"Why are you sorry?" He asked sitting down next to her.

"What I did to you…I didn't want to do it, I didn't want to treat you like a machine, you know that's not how I see you right?" She pleaded with him to understand.

"I know that Chloe." Victor assured her. "You did what you had to do and I'm not sorry you did it."

"I turned you off." She said.

"I was trying to kill you." He pointed out.

"Ok, but still. It'll never happen again I swear it."

"Don't do that." He told her. "There are things that come along with this life. With mine it's the risk of getting hacked and turned into a mindless robot who tries to kill my friends. I know that logically there has to be a safety in place, a backdoor. I like that you're the one with the access though, because I trust you."

Chloe smiled as he handed her a piece of paper. "What's this?"

"The new shut down activation word." He smiled. "I haven't looked at it, it's like seeing a sign that says wet paint you have to touch it just to be sure. I'd end up shutting myself down. The lab techs assured me that it's one of the least common used words in the English language so random people on the streets shouldn't turn me off either."

"You want me to have it?" Chloe asked.

"Like I said. I trust you." Victor smiled.

"Hey." Oliver said at the door to the balcony pulling on a jacket. "My tech guys managed to track down Molly using the stuff they got from Vic, anyone want to ride along."

"You know it." Victor stood up and Chloe smiled as she followed them out.

Oliver stopped the car a few blocks from where they'd picked up Victor. Chloe looked at the warehouse and smiled. "Let's do this."

* * *

Capturing Molly was relatively easy compared to most of the people that usually had to deal with. She wasn't a seasoned criminal and she was working solo so she had no security in place and the team managed to sneak up on her with little difficulty. She was sitting in her very own makeshift command center. There was a pretty high powered computer, made from scraps as far as Chloe could tell, bits of other machines pieced together. Chloe was almost impressed. The bank of monitors, all six of them showed surveillance footage of a few places, one the lab they'd been in just the week before. "Hey Molly." Chloe said and the girl practically jumped in her seat. She turned around and saw the whole of the JLA standing behind her looking pretty pissed. They could practically see the gears moving in her head as she went over her options. She turned around quickly and started typing, the surveillance footage vanishing and in its place swirls of light and color. She turned around quickly to watch her plan in action but frowned as she saw the team standing in the same position they were in before. 

"I bet you're wondering why they aren't trying to kill me." Chloe smiled and pulled a small device out of her ear. "This is really neat." She flipped it over. "The guys in Oliver's lab cooked it up for us. It sends a constant signal to our brains, effectively blocking whatever it is you're trying to do."

Molly looked around a little less confident now and a lot more scared. "You're not going to kill me." She said backing up until she hit the edge of her desk. "That's not your style."

"No." Oliver agreed. "We don't really go for that sort of thing." He took a step forward.

"So what then? You gonna lock me up like Lex did?" She scoffed at them.

"No." Chloe said. "But I'm sure the Doctor's at the Belle Reeve would love to have you back."

"I don't belong in that place." Molly said angrily.

"You've been trying to kill me for the past week, what makes you think you're mentally stable? Chloe asked. "Why exactly have you been trying to kill me?"

"When I figured out whose feed I stole, I just knew that you'd know it was me, I knew that you'd find me and you'd ruin everything and I couldn't let that happen." Molly said.

"Ruin what?" Oliver asked. "What were you doing spying on the research lab in the first place?"

"Trying to find out why Lex was spying on them." Molly said.

"Does that make sense to anyone else?" Bart asked.

"Did you find out?" Chloe asked ignoring Bart.

"Because they're close." Molly said. "Closer than he is."

"Closer than he is to what?" Oliver asked.

"Finding the formula." Molly was telling them everything now in the hopes it would somehow save her. "The formula to give people powers."

Chloe looked at Oliver. "They're what?" She asked slowly.

"They're trying to find a cure." Molly said. "But to do that, they need to find out how someone becomes a Meta." Molly turned around and pulled up a screen. "And they're almost there."

"You think they can actually do that?" Victor asked. "You think they can cure you?"

Molly scoffed. "I don't want the cure, I don't need the cure. I want the formula."

"Why?" AC asked.

"For Lex of course." She looked at all of them. "To make him one of us, one of the people he hates so much, one of the people he kidnaps and experiments on."

Chloe shook her head trying to process everything. "Hold on, on top of the many flaws of that plan, the one that sticks out to me is the part where you want to give Lex powers that could make him even more unstoppable."

"No." Molly said. "That's not…I want him to hate himself as much as he hates us."

"Molly." Chloe sighed. "If I thought that would work I'd have shoved him into a vat of meteor solution a long time ago and let him do himself in but you don't understand Lex's mind. That's not how it would go down. He would just use his powers against us."

"We can't let Lex get that formula." Oliver said.

"Really?" Chloe said sarcastically. "Cause I was gonna send it express mail."

"But didn't Cassandra tell us the clinic was good?" AC said confused. "To protect it?"

"How can it be a good clinic if this is what it's doing?" Victor asked. "Making a formula to turn people into Meta's."

"Or worse." Bart pointed out. "To cure them."

"Look I don't like the thought of any of this, but we don't have the whole picture here." Chloe said. "We don't know what's really going on and I trust Cassandra, I trust that she knows what she's talking about so for now, we watch the clinic, we don't let Lex get the formula, and we see what they do with it ok?" Chloe asked this more to Oliver than anyone else.

"Sounds like a plan to me." He nodded. "And her." He tilted his head toward Molly who had tried to slip away while they fought with each other.

Victor reached out an arm and grabbed her. "Belle Reeve." Chloe said. "It's obvious she still has some work to do there." Oliver nodded at AC.

"AC take her home, we'll see if our friend in the area can come pick her up." Oliver said and AC took Molly from Victor and brought her out to the car. "Chloe." He looked at the equipment. "You and Victor want to take this apart? Bring it back home?"

"I thought you'd never ask." Chloe smiled. Not only would the information on the computer help them out a great deal but she was fascinated by how the whole thing was put together. They got to work as Oliver arranged with Clark to come pick up Molly and drop her off at Belle Reeve.

"I'm not a taxi." Clark said to them when he showed up at the penthouse.

"No, but you're cheaper." Chloe smiled. "I'd love to visit but I'm a little busy now." She pointed behind her to the mess of electronic equipment and wires that was occupying every inch of her living room floor.

"I can see that." Clark smiled. "It's ok, I've got to get back pretty quick anyway. I've got to meet Lois in twenty minutes."

"For what?" Chloe asked.

"I uh, wasn't sure how to break this to you but I got a job, working for the Daily Planet." He said.

"That's great." Chloe smiled brightly and hugged him in excitement. "I'm so happy for you, and proud of you. That's so great."

"Yeah well, the part where I'm the only person on staff who can tolerate Lois and therefore have been assigned as her partner, not so great." Clark said.

Chloe tried to hide her laughter but it wasn't going to happen. She felt it burst out before she could stop it. "You and Lois, working together?"

"It's not funny Chloe." Clark said. "She bosses me around all the time and she's constantly getting mad at me because I'm running off in the middle of things but you know it's kind of important." He said.

"Yeah and she'd get less and less mad at you if you just told her why you were running off." Chloe reminded him. "I mean she's obviously pretty ok with the whole super hero secret identity thing, she knows about all of us and she hasn't printed the story yet."

"I know but I'm not like all of you." Clark said. "My story is a little bit different from "Something happened and I got some powers"."

"Yeah." Chloe conceded. "It's more of, I'm the prince of an Alien planet that's long since been destroyed and I was sent to earth to take over but I've decided to use my powers to help save the humans instead of enslave them."

Clark just looked at her for a second. "Yeah, if I ever decide to tell Lois, there's no way I'm letting you write the script."

Chloe slapped his shoulder as AC came out of the back room with Molly who was passed out cold. "We gave her a sedative so she shouldn't even know what's going on much less who you are."

"No problem." Clark took the load from AC and smiled before speeding out of the room.

* * *

Things settled down after the Molly incident. Cassandra hadn't sent them anything in a few weeks and Lex hadn't done anything noteworthy either. It actually seemed like they might be getting a break. "What are you doing tomorrow?" Chloe asked leaning against Oliver as she watched the movie. 

"Meeting at three." He said. "Other than that…not much. You?"

"I've got a pretty light day." Chloe said. "I was thinking we could all go to the beach."

"AC would love that." Oliver smiled. "Am I supposed to be this confused?"

"Just watch the movie." Chloe said.

"I don't understand. Who's the bad guy?"

"They're all bad guys." Chloe ate some popcorn.

"Even Sam Spade?" Oliver said confused.

"He's not as bad but he's not a good guy. He was sleeping with his partner's wife, he's in this for himself." Chloe said.

"I don't' like it when the good guys aren't good." Oliver sighed.

"Not everything is black and white Oliver." Chloe nudged him.

"Well, we should fix that." Oliver grunted.

"I think I'll make a picnic lunch." Chloe said.

"How's that going to fix it?" Oliver looked down at her.

Chloe rolled her eyes. "For the beach." She told him.

"So is it the real Maltese Falcon or not?" Oliver asked.

"Just watch." She said snuggling closer to him.

* * *

"When you said beach, I was thinking we'd load up the car and drive to the coast for the day." Oliver said getting off the plane. 

"Please." Chloe smiled. "I can't do anything halfway anymore, I learned that from you." They left the runway and got into the car. "I was watching Evita the other day. " Chloe shrugged. "And I remembered Edward's got a beach house in Buenos Aires."

"This is so cool." Bart smiled. "You're house is on the beach?"

"Right there." Chloe said.

"You spoil them you know that right?" Oliver pointed out to her.

"I do what I can." Chloe said. "They work hard, they deserve a break. It's a private secluded beach, a place where they don't have to worry about what people see." Chloe shrugged. They got to the house ten minutes later and Bart did a speedy tour of the house.

"This place is awesome." He said settling back in the main room. "Which room is mine?"

"Whichever you want." Chloe smiled.

"I call the room with the ocean view." AC said as he started for the stairs.

"You can't call rooms you haven't even seen yet." Victor protested following him.

"No calling rooms allowed." Bart said. "It's first come." He ran up the stairs, passing AC and Victor and smiled on the landing. "First serve."

"Miss Chloe." Pilar, the house manager had walked into the room. "It's so good to see you again."

"Hello Pilar." Chloe smiled at the woman. "How have things been?"

"Quiet." She admitted. Chloe hadn't been to the beach house since before she started working with Edward, she had come a few times with Abby, Lily, and Rose but hadn't really had time for a vacation since she started at the company. "There are just a few things I need to go over with you."

"Sure." Chloe turned to Oliver. "Why don't you go grab us whatever rooms are left and I'll meet you guys down at the beach in an hour?"

"No problem." Oliver smiled and picked up his and Chloe's bags and headed to the stairs but stopped when the yelling started.

"Do over." AC said. "We can't do first come first serve when he uses his powers."

"You can't call a do over." Bart screamed. "I got the balcony room fair and square, just cause you're slower than a turtle…"

"Come down to the beach and say that to me." AC screamed back.

"Oh, does the little tortoise want to race the hare?" Bart said in a sing song baby voice.

"Hey, dumb ass, the tortoise beat the hare." Victor screamed back.

"Beach, ten minutes." AC screamed. "But don't come crying to Chloe when I beat you so bad you can't find your way home."

"You're all talk fish boy and no follow through." Bart said.

"I'm on it." Oliver said as Chloe rubbed her temples and he rushed up the stairs to intervene before the fight got out of hand.

Pilar, being the good, loyal housekeeper that she was, pretended as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened and smiled at Chloe. "You just need to talk to the chef, go over the menu for your stay so we can run to the market, and there are a few other things that I needed to talk to you about."

"Lead the way." Chloe smiled.

An hour later Chloe walked down the patio to the beach. Victor was kneeling down, making what looked like a miniature Taj Mahal out of sand. He didn't really care much for the water, even though countless doctors and technicians at Queen Industries had told him it was perfectly safe, he still had the mind set of electricity plus water equals bad. "Wow." Chloe paused to admire his work. "Did you do that from memory?"

The detail was amazing, every brick carved out, even the intricate carving details on the front of the building were there. Victor looked up sheepishly. "I downloaded images and blueprints, is that cheating?" He asked.

"Is anything we do cheating?" Chloe responded before walking over to Oliver who had set up a few deck chairs for them in the sand. He was staring out at the water where AC and Bart continued to fight. "Who won?" She asked sitting down next to him and dropping her bag.

He looked over at her and smiled. "Who do you think?" He nodded out at the shallow edge of the water and Chloe listened to the argument.

"That didn't count." AC said.

"Of course it counted." Bart scoffed. "You can just say it didn't count."

"Best two out of three." He offered.

"Just give it up and admit that I'm faster than you." Bart smiled.

"You don't want to go again because you know I'll beat you." AC said.

"I don't have to go again because I already beat you." Bart told him.

"Apparently halfway through the race, AC found some fish tangled in an old fishing net and stopped to help them." Oliver filled Chloe in. "He says he wants a do over and Bart claims that it doesn't matter, he should still have beaten him even stopping to help the fish if he was as fast as he says he is."

"Why do you have to be a brat about everything?" AC screamed.

"Look, Chloe's here." Bart started to walk up the sand to her. "She can sort this out. Tell him that it totally counted and he can't just call do over because he doesn't like the end result."

"Tell him that if he wasn't a selfish bastard, he'd understand what I did and let me do the race over." AC screamed.

"Hey." Chloe held up her hand. "Both of you play nice and go away, you're blocking my sun and I'm on vacation."

"But Chloe…" They both whined.

She sighed as Oliver smiled at her. "Bart, you know you didn't beat him fare and square if you're so sure you'll win, you should give him another race. AC stop whining, you knew you were in a race and you could have finished and then gone and freed the fish, that was your own fault. Now both of you get out of my sun."

Bart and AC looked at each other and shrugged. "I don't feel like racing anymore." Bart said.

"Me either." AC shrugged and they walked away.

Chloe slathered on some sun tan lotion and took a quick dip in the ocean before drying off and laying back in her deck chair. She closed her eyes, relaxing and enjoying the sun and the company. She felt at peace here, the beach was private and secluded enough it didn't matter that AC and Bart were having racing using their super powers, the staff was well trained and loyal enough to turn a blind eye when Bart zoomed from the beach to the kitchen to grab a snack and disappeared again in the blink of an eye. She felt happy and relaxed for the first time in months, it didn't last for long though. "Uh oh." Oliver's voice brought her back to reality and she opened her eyes to see Bart standing in the ocean, on a patch of dry sand as AC swam in circles around him, pulling the water into a whirlpool that effectively trapped Bart in a cocoon of water. He tried a few times unsuccessfully to super speed out of it, but just ended up hitting the wall of water and falling back into the center.

"Guys, place nice or I'm sending you back up to the house." Chloe called. AC stopped swimming and the water crashed in on Bart, knocking him on his ass.

"Sorry." AC said sheepishly. "Just having a little fun."

Bart surfaced a few seconds later spitting water out of him mouth and immediately set chase. Oliver couldn't help but laugh as Chloe rubbed her temples, she could feel what she'd dubbed as the Bart/AC headache coming on. "This isn't going to end well." Oliver warned as AC gathered up his energy and created a massive way aimed at Bart, who had run behind Victor's sand castle for cover.

"Oh no." Chloe sat up straight as AC let the wave go and it crashed down, demolishing the Taj Mahal and soaking Bart and Victor.

When the water receded AC stood up with a shocked expression on his face, not believing what he'd just done. "It was an accident." He said to Victor, backing away slowly into the water as Victor glared at him then back at his ruined castle. "It's all Bart's fault anyway."

Victor turned to Bart who was smiling smugly and Chloe jumped up, grabbed the bucket Victor had been using and slipped her arm through his. "Hey, there's a little cove up the beach, I told Enrico that I'd try and get some fresh scallops for him. Come help me."

Victor glared one last time at AC and Bart before allowing Chloe to lead him off down the beach. Oliver walked over to the two of them and slapped them both on the head. "Hey." He said glaring. "Chloe was nice enough to bring us all out here to relax, and this is how you repay her?" They had sense enough to look ashamed. "She hasn't had the best time lately so from now on I want you to give her a break, be on your best behavior, no more fighting, no more complaining, no more whining. Understood?"

"Yes boss." Bart and AC agreed and Oliver smiled and went back to his lounge chair.

When Chloe and Victor came strolling back up the beach a few hours later Bart and AC were playing around, amicably in the water and Oliver was trying to pretend as if he hadn't fallen asleep. "So did you find any?" He got up and looked in Chloe's bucket which was filled with different shellfish.

"Tons." Chloe smiled. "Fresh Scallops, did anything ever taste so good." AC was making a face, but Chloe had long since learned to ignore his distaste for her affinity for seafood. "Bart can you run those up to the kitchen for me?"

"Absolutely." Bart smiled and grabbed the bucket from her without argument and was off.

"He'll probably start diner soon so we should head back up to the house ourselves." Chloe started grabbing her sun tan lotion and towels and AC stepped in and stopped her.

"Let me get that for you." He said smiling.

"Sure." Chloe backed away but gave him a strange look.

They went back up to the house and Chloe showered and was drying her hair when she heard the familiar screams of Bart and AC. "I didn't do anything to your red shirt loser." AC screamed. "Maybe you forgot to pack it."

"I didn't forget to pack it, it's my favorite shirt, I take it with me everywhere." Bart said back. "I know you did something with it."

"What possible reason could I have for taking your stupid shirt?" AC asked.

"Cause you're a dork." Bart retaliated. "Fine, you don't want to admit you took it, maybe you'll be a little more understanding when I start messing with your things."

"That's real mature Bart." AC told him. "What are you gonna do? Hide my clothes from me?"

"How would that work?" Victor piped in. "You'd just be giving the man another excuse to go naked and I for one am not down with that plan."

"Maybe I won't mess with your clothes." Bart said. "Maybe I'll mess with something else."

Chloe rolled her eyes as the fight continued and saw Oliver walk hurriedly past Chloe's door and she heard what sounded like harsh whispering and then it was quiet, no more yelling, no more fighting. Chloe got up from her vanity and walked to the door to investigate. Generally the only reason Bart and AC stopped fighting was that one of them had knocked the other unconscious. She stepped out into the hallway and was greeted with four smiling faces. "Hey." Oliver said to her surprised.

"Hey." Chloe said cautiously looking at all of them confused. "What's going on?"

"Just waiting for you, to go get some dinner." Bart said. "You ready?"

"Yeah." Chloe knew something strange was going on but she just couldn't figure out what. She walked with them down to the dining room and Bart pulled her chair out for her while AC opened her napkin and laid in her lap. She gave them another strange look as dinner was served. Twenty minutes into the disturbingly quiet meal, Bart turned to AC.

"Can you pass the salt please?" He asked.

"Sure." AC grabbed the salt and handed it to Bart who nodded.

"Thank you."

"Your welcome." AC said and Chloe couldn't take it anymore.

She dropped her fork to her plate which made a very loud clink in the room and they all stopped eating to look at her. "That's it, I want to know what's going on." She looked at everyone in turn and they all seemed confused.

"What are you talking about?" Bart asked.

"I'm talking about this weird Stepford thing you've got going here with the please and thank you. I'm talking about the fact that AC isn't complaining about Bart sitting too close. I'm talking about the fact that not once this evening has Bart tried to regal us with the Star Spangled Banner done entirely in burps." She raised her eyebrows and they all looked at Oliver.

"I was just trying to give you a break." Oliver defended himself.

"That's sweet really, but I don't need a break." She said. "So just act normal ok, you guys are freaking me out."

"Really?" Bart asked smiling. "Cause I really can do the Star Spangled Banner in burps." He took a big gulp of his drink and Victor groaned but Chloe just smiled.

"I'm trying to eat here." AC complained.

"So whose stopping you?" Bart asked, completely in burps.

They spent the rest of the diner much more comfortably and hung out for a little while before separating to go to bed. The next day they spent a little more time at the beach and then went into town. Bart wanted some souvenirs and Victor wanted to check out the old buildings. They ate a lunch at a little café and were heading back to the house when Chloe's phone rang.

"No work." Bart said. "Remember."

"It's Edward." Chloe said walking a little ways away as AC finished some story and the guys laughed to take to the call.

Oliver watched as she went from smiling, to frowning to concerned. When she came back over to them she smiled sadly. "I gotta go guys." She said. "You can stay until Monday like we planned but I've got to get to London."

"What's going on?"

"Nothing." Chloe said. "Edward fell down some stairs, he's in the hospital. Just a small accident but I want to go myself. Check on him."

"You want some company?" Victor asked.

"No I'll be fine." She said smiling. "I'll take the plane but I'll send it back for you guys." She kissed each one of them in turn and pulled out her phone to call for a cab. "Don't let this ruin you're fun ok."

"You sure you wanna go by yourself?" Oliver asked her.

"Sure." Chloe said climbing into the cab. Oliver watched her go and then sighed and pulled out his phone. "I've gotta go too." He told them.

"Man you guys don't know the meaning of vacation do you?" Bart asked. "Where you off too?"

"London." Oliver said.

"Chloe said she was fine." Victor frowned.

"Yeah." Oliver sighed. "Chloe doesn't know what I know." They all looked at him confused as he walked away to use the phone.


	12. Chapter 12

Chloe walked in the hospital room and Edward smiled at her. "I didn't think you'd be awake." She sat down in the chair. "I brought you something." She passed him a small bag and he took it smiling.

"Is this…" He opened it up and inhaled deeply.

"Raspberry Soufflé from Mirabelle." Chloe said. "Which you probably aren't supposed to have so if you get in trouble, we've never met, got it!" She'd gone straight from the airport to the restaurant and then the hospital. She was exhausted but she was putting on a brave face.

"What would I do without out?" Edward asked her.

"Probably pay Raymond to sneak you stuff from Mirabelle." She told him. "So when do you get sprung?"

"Chloe." He set the bag on the side table and smiled up at her, holding out his hand. She grabbed it, still smiling, not fully realizing the seriousness of the situation. "There is something we need to talk about."

"Ok, I know I've been making a lot of changes in Star City but it's all for the best, you'll see." She defended herself.

"I know." He assured her. "I trust you." She smiled again and he sighed. "Do you remember when you first got here?" He chuckled. "Was it only six years ago?"

"Feels like a lifetime." Chloe assured him. "In a good way."

"Do you remember, constantly asking me why I was doing this for Oliver? Why I was taking you in, molding you?"

"Only every day." Chloe laughed. A long time ago, for some reason, the answer to that question had become completely unimportant to her.

"Oliver was doing me a favor, a very dangerous favor." He took a deep breath. "Seven years ago, I was diagnosed with Lupus."

"Lupus?" Chloe said in a whisper.

"It's an autoimmune disease, the body basically attacks itself. It was a rapid onset according to the doctors and there is no real treatment but anything they could think of, I tried. Nothing worked." He took a deep breath. "Oliver is an old family friend and he suggested a very radical, very dangerous, completely unapproved treatment option for me. Something he'd cooked up in one of his labs. It started to work but we both know that it was only to stave off the inevitable. It masked my symptoms but didn't stop the progression of the disease."

"So what does that mean?" Chloe asked.

"Jillian and I, we never had children. I don't have any siblings, I had no living family and I realized that I had no one to carry on my legacy, to run my company." Chloe nodded to show she was following along. "I was determined to train someone to take over when I died."

"Did he barter your health…for me?"

"You know Oliver Chloe." Edward said kindly. "Does that sound like him?"

"No." She shook her head, trying to stop the tears that were falling.

"I considered a few people in the company, some who had been with me since the beginning but…no one was right for the job." Edward said. "During one of my treatments, I explained my problem to Oliver and he suggested you. He needed a way to get you into this lifestyle, and I needed a protégée."

"Buy why did you do it?" Chloe said. "Why did you choose me? If none of the people all ready in the company were good enough…and when we first met, I was a brat."

"Sweetheart. Don't think I went into that first meeting knowing nothing about you. I researched you, thoroughly. I started with your articles at the planet, went back to your time at your college and high school papers. I had someone at the Planet to observe you, see what kind of person you were."

"You spied on me?" She asked smiling slightly.

"Do you remember a girl named Amanda?" Chloe thought back and remembered the bumbling intern girl, the one who always came to Chloe for help, was always screwing up, and always seemed to be around.

"Amanda was a spy?" Chloe laughed. "Well no wonder she was horrible at her job."

"I had a pretty good grasp on your character before we met that night, and I thought, just as Oliver had assured me, that you'd be perfect for the job." He told her.

"Do you…regret it?"

"Not a single second." He assured her. "I made the right choice back then and I couldn't be happier." He looked at her for a minute.

"Do you regret it?"

"No." She shook her head emphatically. "Not even the tiniest bit." She grabbed his hand with both of hers.

"I want you to know…" He coughed a bit. "I've changed my will."

"I don't understand." Chloe said wiping her eyes.

"I've left you everything Chloe. You're no longer playing the part of heiress; you are the real deal…"

"No, I couldn't…you don't…" She shook her head emphatically. "But I'm not even…"

"It was done a long time ago child." He smiled sadly at her. "You get the company, the houses, the money…"

"But I don't want…just stop ok." She pleaded with him.

"This is important. Oliver's treatments have stopped working; I haven't got much time left." He took a deep breath. "My lawyers assure me that it's air tight. Incontestable, not that there is anyone who would."

"Just stop." Chloe got up. "I can't do this…" She grabbed her bag and ran from the room.

* * *

"I thought I'd find you here." Ms. Reynolds walked further into the clearing and sat down on the stone bench. "This was, is Mr. Standish's favorite spot."

"He's dying." Chloe said without looking up.

"I know." Chloe turned her head so sharply and angrily Ms. Reynolds had to stop herself from taking a step back.

"Yeah well so did he. For seven years." Chloe said the tears falling again. "And so did Oliver, everyone but me."

"I always told him that course of action was…unwise." Ms. Reynolds admitted. "But he was insistent that you not know until…"

"It was too late." Chloe offered. They sat in silence for a minute. "Why do you care?"

"Why wouldn't I care?" She asked confused.

"Everyone knows you hate me." Chloe said.

"Child." She put a hand on Chloe's shoulder. "I don't hate you. I admit at first I was a little wary of you and your sudden appearance but, over the years you have more than proven yourself."

"He changed his will." Chloe said after a minute of silence.

"I know." Ms. Reynolds said.

"He's giving me everything." Chloe added.

"Yes he is." Ms. Reynolds didn't seem to worry about that too much.

"We aren't related." Chloe informed the woman. "He's not my great Uncle, his mother's sister never…he didn't even know I existed until seven years ago."

If Chloe expected this to make any sort of difference to the old woman she was surprised again. "I suspected." She smiled at Chloe. "He doesn't tell me everything but I'm pretty sharp, even in my old age."

"But don't you see?" Chloe said. "I don't deserve this, any of it."

"Oh but you do." Ms. Reynolds said. "I don't know the circumstances of your arrangement, the cause of it all and I'll happily go to my grave not knowing." She assured Chloe. "This was between Mr. Standish and yourself. If you think for one second that you don't deserve this." She stood up and looked at Chloe. "You may not be related, by blood, or by law, but you are family. You love him so much, and he loves you as if you were his own child. Even beyond all that, beyond what I see when the two of you are together, if Mr. Standish believes you are worthy of this, then there is no doubt in my mind that he's right."

"Chloe smiled up at her. "Thank you." She whispered.

"Will you be coming in soon? I can have Raymond start supper."

"Yeah." Chloe stood up and walked over to Ms. Reynolds and they headed up to the house together. "Ms. Reynolds, just between us girls, Elizabeth and I always had a suspicion…are you in love with him?"

Ms. Reynolds looked at Chloe in shock. "Even if he weren't my boss," she said. "And the most stubborn and particular and disagreeable man I've ever met, I am and have been happily married for more than 40 years."

Chloe looked up in astonishment. "There's a Mr. Reynolds?"

"Some reporter you are." She chuckled.

"Well you never said…" Chloe defended herself.

"I don't often speak of my private life with my employer." She raised an eyebrow.

Chloe smiled. "I'd like to meet him sometime."

"You know, I think he'd like to meet you." Ms. Reynolds said.

Chloe smiled as they continued their walk up to the house wondering if this signaled a change in her relationship with the crotchety old housekeeper. "And please remember whose house you're in young lady. I do not mind you having your gentleman "friend" stay here but you will have separate rooms. I am not running a brothel."

"Yes ma'am." Chloe said. "Wait what are you talking about."

"Hey Tower." Oliver said from the door to the sitting room. He looked exhausted, hadn't shaved in a few days and his clothes were all wrinkled.

"Oliver." She whispered. She was torn up inside, she wanted nothing more than to run and hug him and never let go. She wanted him to hold her and tell her that everything was going to be ok. But more than that she wanted to hit him. She wanted to hurt him so much for the way he'd hurt her. He knew, the whole time he knew about Edward and he didn't give her a chance, not a warning, no inkling of what was going on. "I couldn't tell you." He said stepping forward slowly. "He made me swear, it was a condition."

"I don't care." She said quietly. "You should have…"

"I know." Oliver said to her. "I know what I should have done, what I wanted to do so many times."

"You shouldn't have kept it from me; I had a right to know…"

"You did." Oliver agreed with her. "I know you did. I'm so sorry."

"He's dying Oliver." She started crying again. "He says a month, maybe a little more. I only have a month…"

"I know." He reached her in three strides and pulled her into his arms.

"I can't do this…not a month, I need a year, two…" She sobbed into his shoulder.

"I know." He stroked her hair and nodded at Ms. Reynolds who nodded back and left the room, grabbing the security guard to give them some privacy.

"It's not enough time. I don't have enough time." She said and Oliver didn't know what he could do besides hold her. "I'm so mad at you." She said a few minutes later when she'd pulled herself together. "I'm so mad at you, I want to hit you, and I want…I am so mad at you but I don't have time for that now because I need you."

"I'm here." He promised her. "I'll be here."

"I need you Oliver and I need to not be mad at you." She told him.

"I would really love for you not to be mad at me." He said to her.

"We're going to talk about this, but right now, we're going to have diner, then I'm going back to the hospital to talk to his doctors and then…" She looked up at him. "I have to try Oliver."

"You know it won't work." He said quietly to her, not wanting her to get her hopes up. "In all our tests…"

"All our tests didn't involve people. It was all monkeys or other animals. I have to try…how can I not try." She asked.

"You can't heal diseases Chloe." He reminded her. "We've tried, you've tried, and your power doesn't work that way."

"We'll see about that." She said. "I need you with me on this, because if it works, you know what's gonna happen."

"Chloe…" He stopped at the look on her face. "I just don't want you to get your hopes up, but whatever you think you have to do, I'll be there with you."

"Thank you." Chloe grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze.

* * *

"Oliver Queen is the Green Arrow." Chloe said from the doorway of Edwards's bedroom. She'd been avoiding him since he got back from the hospital, requesting to "die like a man in my own house" which Chloe didn't take kindly too but agreed none the less. She wasn't sure how to approach him, how to breach the gap between "I'm mad at you" and "Your dying so I need to not be mad at you". She decided that confession was probably good for the soul, if all those catholic priests were to be believed.

"I'm sorry." He looked up at her confused.

"The Green Arrow." Chloe walked in the room and sat down in the chair beside the bed. "The guy who runs around Star City in green leather with a bow and arrow."

"I know about…Oliver Queen?" Edward said confused.

"Do you remember all the times I asked why you were doing this for Oliver and you would ask me why I was?" Chloe asked him.

"Because he's the Green Arrow?" Edward said still confused.

"Let me start at the beginning." Chloe sighed. "You researched the Torch, my high school paper, so you're probably familiar with Smallville, how it's not…a normal small town."

"Your meteors." Edward sat up a little straighter in the bed. "But could they really…"

"When I was in high school I met so many fantastically powerful people. There was a girl who could control bees, a guy who could suck all of the warmth from your body with a kiss, so many others who had gotten some special power from the meteor rocks that landed in Smallville during the meteor shower." Chloe took a deep breath. "A friend of mine from back home has these powers too, not because of the rocks, but because he came to earth with the rocks."

"An alien?" Edward asked.

"I know how it sounds." Chloe chuckled. "I didn't really believe it at first either and I'm the most open minded person ever. But it's true, on his planet he would have been as normal as normal gets but here, on earth, our sun gives him powers. He can run faster than a train, see through walls; create fire with his eyes, and he's basically indestructible. Bullets, knives, buses, fire, nothing hurts him. We worked together to stop a lot of the crazed meteor infected people for longer than I can remember."

"You did this?" Edward smiled slightly at her.

"Then one day, Oliver Queen comes to town. A few days later, this Green Arrow shows up. He doesn't have special powers, just a desire for Justice and extraordinary skill with a bow and arrow." Chloe smiled. "It didn't take me long to put two and two together and figure out who he really was, which was a total shock for him. But he didn't worry; I was good at keeping secrets. The thing is, Oliver formed this team. People with powers, one can run faster than the alien friend I was telling you about, never lets him live that down." She chuckled thinking of Bart constantly reminding Clark that he's faster. "One of them is incredible if you get him in water, can swim fast, doesn't need to breath, super strength, and recently has started to be able to communicate with fish. Then there's another, normal guy, going to school, football scholarship, beautiful girlfriend. Until one day he gets in a car accident and wakes up in a laboratory, no longer a normal guy, now he's half man, half computer."

"This is extraordinary." Edward said hanging on her every word.

"Oliver formed this team to stop Lex Luther."

"Lex?" Edward said confused.

"Lex was in Smallville when the weird started hitting the fan. Only he became obsessed with it, he wanted to harness the powers, control them, use them for…well he didn't want to start a superhero crime fighting team." She explained. "He's the one who created Cyborg, the half man, half computer I was telling you about. He had a project that he was working on. 33.1, it was set up to capture and experiment on the meteor infected. Now I'm the first one to lay the smack down on them when they start using their powers to hurt people, but most of these people, they were just normal, some didn't even know they were infected. Lex did, he had a guy who could tell when someone had these powers, it was his power, he could look at you and see if you were infected. He didn't know that when he told Lex they were kidnapped and tested, he thought Lex was trying to help them, to cure them. But he wasn't. He was holding them in labs, like animals, running medical tests, sometimes going as far as to kill them and Oliver was determined to stop him."

"Dear God." Edward said.

"I helped him." Chloe said. "The 33.1 that was in Smallville, Oliver and team went in there and cleaned the place up, sent a message to Lex that he couldn't do what he was doing anymore, that Oliver wouldn't let him. We blew up the facility."

"We?" Edward said.

"Well I mainly stayed behind at headquarters and guided them." Chloe blushed. "That's what I do." She looked up at him. "Lex has 33.1 facilities all over the world. Oliver finds them, his team goes in, I make sure they come out. We'd been working together on and off for a while, but that wasn't enough for Oliver." Chloe looked at him. "Lex wasn't the only one interested in the meteors anymore, more and more people are figuring out what they can do, what they can make people do, and Lex can build facilities faster than we can shut them down. He wanted me on full time, monitoring Lex, watching him and others like him. Finding the missions and guiding the missions. But we couldn't do that six years ago. It would require Chloe Sullivan, junior reporter to spend quite a bit of time with Oliver Queen billionaire mogul. No one was gonna believe that, especially Lex, without getting suspicious."

"Yes, your right." Edward said, realizing where this story would go.

"So he needed to re-make me, turn me into someone that could spend a lot of time with Oliver Queen, no questions asked and that's where you came in. I've been working for Oliver this whole time, finding 33.1 labs and shutting them down, trying to keep one step ahead of Lex."

"You're doing this for Oliver, to be a secret crime fighter?" Edward smiled.

"That makes it sound so…comic book." Chloe laughed and Edward raised an eyebrow at him.

"Oliver is helping me too." Chloe said, getting to the next part of the story. "The guy I told you about, the one who could see people with powers, well he saw me. In the back of my mind I guess I figured, as much as I was around the stuff, there was a good chance, one day I'd become infected."

"You have powers?" Edward asked.

"Yeah. Oliver's been helping me with them, helping me control them, figure out what I can do with them, make sure they don't make me crazy or kill me or anything." She chuckled.

"What…" Edward let it hang in the air.

Chloe looked at him and grabbed his hand. She flipped it over and removed the bandage covering the hole where the doctors had taken his blood. She looked up at him then put her hand over the wound and it started to glow. Then there was no more hole, there was no more bruise, there was nothing there. "How did you…" He looked from his arm to Chloe and then back again.

"I can heal things." Chloe said to him. "Well sort of, I don't really heal them so much as I take them from you." She rolled up her sleeve and Edward saw the same bruise he'd had minutes ago, the same puncture wound."

"That's incredible." He reached out to touch it and Chloe flinched a little. "Does it…"

"Yeah." She smiled. "It hurts." She rolled her sleeve back down.

"Could you…not that I want you to have this…but could you…" He struggled to ask her the question.

"No." Chloe shook her head sadly. "It doesn't work on diseases, only wounds for some reason, cuts, scrapes, gun shots, stabbings, and broken bones. I've tried, for the past couple of days, working up the courage to tell you, I've been in here trying while you slept but…"

"I wouldn't want you to Chloe." He assured her. "Not if it means you would end up with this, die from this."

"But I wouldn't." Chloe said to him sadly. "Well I would but, for some reason, if I heal someone, someone whose wound is fatal, and I die from it, I don't exactly stay that way." She explained. "A long time ago, my cousin Lois was stabbed, and she died, and I healed her and I died, but a few hours later, I was back. And a few times since then, but I've always come back. I think because it's not my death, it's not my wound, it doesn't seem to stick…"

"You come back from the dead?" Edward said astonished.

"Well I don't do it for parlor tricks. I don't whip it out at parties but I've been known to, occasionally." She tried to joke with him.

"But you can't…" He trailed off.

"I can't." She said, her sadness returning in a tidal wave. "I don't understand the use of this stupid power if I can't even…I would give anything to be able to…"

"You tried." Edward grabbed her hands to silence her. "It's enough that you want to."

"No it's not." Chloe said to him. "It's really not."

"It is for me." Edward said. "And you know." He thought for a second. "You're doing a good thing. You're saving people, helping them, you're a hero, and if something I did…if giving you money and a job and a name somehow helped you do that well then I can feel like I died a hero." Chloe started crying again. "It's great what you're doing, what you can do, it's amazing, but I should have known really. I should have known how amazing you really were. I am so proud of you." Chloe was full out crying now. "So proud." She laid her head on his shoulder and cried some more as he smiled and stroked her hair.

Chloe once again voice the problem she'd been having. "There's not enough time." She said. "There's so much more we need to do, to say, I need a more time."

"No." Edward looked down at her. "We don't need more time. We just need one perfect day." He assured her. It took her a minute to calm down but she did, pulling away from him and turning her back so that she could compose herself. "While we're being so honest with each other, I have another confession to make." He smiled at her as she made a show of bracing herself for the news. "I am the reason you were fired from the Daily Planet."

"Come again?" Chloe said confused.

"I called Grant Gabriel, he worked on one of my papers before he got the Editor position. I convinced him that it would be best to let you go."

"You told Grant to fire me?" Chloe said smiling slightly.

"I was getting impatient." Edward defended himself. "I wanted to get this show on the road and Oliver said he had to find the right time to approach you. So I made the right time."

"Did you flood my apartment too?" Edward looked at her confused. "Never mind."

"Are you upset with me?" He asked her.

"No, of course not." Chloe said. "Like I told you the other day, I don't regret anything, but I am going to kick Oliver's ass. He acted all surprised when I was fired."

"He was." Edward assured her. "I didn't inform him of that little plan." Chloe smiled. "So tell me about this Green Arrow." He smiled at her. "And this alien friend of yours I want to be the guy with the best stories when I get to heaven." Chloe laughed and sat in the chair.

"Let's see." She thought for a second. "Let me tell you a story about my prom." She smiled.

A few hours later Chloe and Edward were laughing as Chloe regaled him with tales of Smallville. "Thought I'd find you in here."

"Hey." Chloe smiled up at Oliver and he was pleased to see she looked happier than she had in days.

"Ms. Reynolds sent me to fetch you for dinner." He walked further into the room.

"I'll be back later." Chloe assured Edward as she leaned over to kiss his cheek.

"Can I have a word with Oliver?" Edward asked and Chloe looked between the two men and then nodded leaving the room.

"What can I do for you?" Oliver asked walking further in the room.

"It's about Chloe." He said motioning for Oliver to sit down. "First of all, I want to thank you."

"Me?" Oliver asked confused. "For what?"

"For bringing her to me. For bringing her into my life. She's like the daughter that I never had, I'm so proud of her in ways that I can't even…and I have you to thank for that." Oliver wasn't sure what to say, as noble as this made him sound, that was not his intention in anyway. "I'm sure you consider us even, Chloe for the treatment but we're not, if anything I owe you even more now."

"You really don't." Oliver tried to tell him.

"And now I'm going to ask for another favor, one that I won't ever be able to pay back." Edward said.

"Name it." Oliver didn't even hesitate.

"Look after her." He pleaded with Oliver. "Make sure she's happy, make sure she's safe, make sure her life is extraordinary. I realize now that's all I want, more than a legacy, more than an heir, I want her to be so happy."

"I will do everything in my power to…" Oliver had to cut himself off because he was getting choked up. "You don't even have to ask."

"I know." Edward said. "That's why I'm trusting you with her. Because I know even if I had never asked you to do this, you would have anyway. Chloe is such a special girl." Oliver nodded. "And now, knowing about your…extra circular activities." Oliver raised his eyebrows as Edward smiled. "Oh she told me everything, which only makes me see how right I was to think you're the perfect one to protect her."

"I promise." Oliver assured him.

"I know your relationship is…not what the press leads the world to believe, not what you two lead the world to believe, but I believe…" Edward seemed to be choosing his words perfectly. "When I met Jillian, she was my greatest joy, the way that she looked at me; the way we would lose ourselves in each other was magical. When I see you and Chloe, I see Jillian and myself."

"No Chloe and I are just, she's my best friend." Oliver admitted.

"As Jillian was mine." Edward smiled at him. "You may not see it now, but you will. The two of you will do great things together, fantastic things and I'm not just talking about you're little team. I just ask that when you love her, love her greatly."

"And if she doesn't love me?" Oliver asked, surprised at his own question.

"Now do you really think that's going to be a problem?" Edward smiled at him. "Because I don't."

"I promise." Oliver said laying his hand on Edward's and smiling.

"Now, get to diner, you should never leave a beautiful girl waiting."

Oliver smiled and got up and walked out of the room nodding at Edward one last time before heading to the kitchen.

* * *

Edward watched the two of them for the next week it seemed it was all he could do. His mobility was limited but Chloe and Oliver had no problem hanging out in his room, or bringing him into whatever room they were occupying. He just wanted to be around family. He stood in the doorway of the sun room and just observed the two of them. "Wayne Industries is trying to buy Consolidated International." Oliver said lazily as he flipped the page in his paper and returned his arm to drape over Chloe's stomach. They were on the love seat in the sun room, Oliver sitting there reading the paper and Chloe, lying in his lap as she read her book, just a lazy Sunday. "That's Spencer's company isn't it? Bruce can't be that stupid, Spencer would never sell."

"He's not trying to buy it." Chloe flipped a page in her book. "I talked to him a few weeks ago. Spencer's trying to prove to his father that his company is more than just a hobby. You know Ryan, if it isn't oil, it's not worth it, and he's trying to get Spencer to quite playing around and come back to his company. Bruce is just doing him a favor, giving him a ridiculous offer so Spencer can turn it down."

"And so Ryan see's that it's the real deal." Oliver said understanding. "That's awfully sweet of Bruce."

"He's a nice guy." Chloe said turning another page. "Plus it's not actually costing him money so…"

"Abby called." Oliver looked down as if he'd just remembered. "She wanted to see if we were going to Aspen this year."

"Is she bringing Antonio?" Chloe said his name with such venom that Oliver had to shake his head.

"Possibly, we didn't really discuss it." He told her.

"If he's going I'd rather stay at home."

"What have you got against this guy?" Oliver laughed. "He's royalty for Christ sake."

"But he's so annoying." Chloe turned slightly to look at Oliver. "His accent's fake you know. He went to School in England and America and he lost his accent a long time ago, he's faking an accent from his own country."

"Ok." Oliver laughed. "That's a little annoying."

"And he talks about himself in the third person." Chloe added going back to her book. "Antonio is hungry, we will eat now. Antonio is tired of this, we will leave."

"I get it." Oliver said. "I'll ask her whose going and if she mentions Antonio I'll say we just want a quiet time at home this year."

"Thanks." Chloe snuggled deeper into his lap.

"Sir." One of the guards walked up to Edward. "You shouldn't be out of bed."

Chloe looked at the door and immediately jumped up. "Edward, what are you doing?"

"I wanted to sit in the sun room." He glared at all of them. "It's a nice day out."

"Here." Oliver jumped up and grabbed his arm, helping guide him to a chair.

"Can I get you something tea?" Chloe asked anxiously.

"No, dear, I just want to sit her for a while, in the sunlight." Edward smiled at her.

"Ok, but if you get tired, or if you start to feel bad, let me know and we'll get you back to your room." She hovered over him anxiously.

"I'll be sure to do that." He waved his hands and shoed her away. She looked at him again, making sure he was ok and then resumed her seat next to Oliver. He picked up his paper and she picked up her book but she didn't move back to her position in his lap, the spell had been broken; there was another person in the room.

Oliver seemed to realize this just as Chloe did and they smiled at each other before returning to their respective reading materials. Edward sighed and turned his attention out the window. They all spent the afternoon lounging in the sun room, Edward occasionally making comments on the scenery, Oliver spitting out some tidbit from the paper, occasionally abandoning it all together to read over her shoulder. "You read fast." He complained once and Chloe looked up at him smiling.

"You weren't finished?" She asked. "You want me to go back?"

"No." He shook his head. "Just let me read it when you're done."

"Sure." Chloe smiled and Oliver folded his paper and stood up.

"I've got a few calls to make." He smiled down at her and leaned over, kissing her on the cheek. She tilted her head to the side expecting it and smiled when he walked away. Chloe turned to see Edward smirking at her.

"What?" Chloe asked closing her book and moving over to where her Uncle was sitting.

"Nothing." He shook his head.

Chloe seemed to realize then what had happened, Oliver leaning over to kiss her. "That was just…habit."

"Right." Edward smiled.

"It was." Chloe glared at him.

"I didn't say anything." He raised his hands and shrugged.

"You were thinking it." Chloe said to him.

"I wasn't thinking anything." Edward said. "Maybe you were."

"We're just friends." Chloe said crossing her arms over her chest.

"You know, I could be mean." Edward said. "I could tell the world that the only thing I want before I die is to see my niece married."

"You wouldn't." Chloe said narrowing her eyes.

"I've thought about it." He admitted. "You could do worse than Oliver Queen."

"True." She told him. "But he could do better than me." She pointed out.

"Don't be so sure about that." Edward said looking over as the sun started to set. "I'm going to miss so much you know." He turned to Chloe. "Your wedding, whether it's to Oliver or not, your kids."

"Kids?" Chloe coughed. "You're jumping the gun there a little aren't you?"

"I'm allowed." He said. "I have to imagine your future because I won't be there to see it."

Chloe felt tears stinging at the edge of her eyes and just nodded. "You'll be there." Chloe assured him. "You'll always be there, you know that right?"

He smiled sadly at her and nodded. "I think I'm ready to go back to bed."

"I'll go get someone." Chloe stood up whipping his eyes.

"I got down here myself; I'll get back up myself." Edward brushed her off.

"You are so stubborn; for once will you let someone help you?" She snapped at him.

"I will when you do." He smiled at her and raised himself out of the seat and walked toward the stairs. The guard at the door rushed forward and Chloe held up her hand.

"He wants to do it himself. It'll serve him right if he falls on his ass." She glared one last time at Edward and then walked out of the sun room and toward the back steps.

* * *

Oliver had to go, back to Star City, back to work and Chloe was sad but understanding. She preferred to stay in England, spend as much time with Edward as she possibly could, they spent all day together, on good days talking in the sun room, on bad days hanging out in his room, but they were always together, inseparable Ms. Reynolds had said. But Chloe wasn't expecting that to include 3:00 in the morning. Which is when she found him one night on the landing of the stairs. "What are you doing up?" Chloe asked walking back up the steps coffee can in hand.

"I can't sleep for more than a few hours now a days." Edward admitted. "What about you?"

"Business." Chloe said shaking the coffee cup. "For Oliver, I gotta be online in fifteen minutes."

"Secret business?" Edward smiled at her.

"33.1 lab in Guatemala." Chloe said smiling so relieved to be able to tell someone the straight up truth for once.

"Could I…" He looked at her then turned away then turned back. "Could I watch?"

Chloe smiled bigger. "You want to?" He nodded. "Sure." She nodded for him to follow her to her office and set him a chair up next to hers and then started a pot of coffee. She set up her computer while she waited for the coffee to finish then poured a cup and sat down. She took a deep breath, looked over at Edward and smiled before putting in her earpiece.

Edward looked at the multiple monitors she had set up. There was a satellite image on one, another held a blueprint of a building and the third was just a black screen. "Watchtower on line, we ready?"

"Good to go." Green's Arrow's voice said over the speakers and Edward looked more intently at the screen. "Green Arrow in position."

"Aquaman in position." Another voice said.

"Cyborg in position."

"Impulse in position."

"Ok, you've got four guards on the south entrance Arrow." Chloe typed rapidly on her keyboard. "Another two in the east Cyborg. Impulse and Aquaman you are free and clear."

"Head out." Green Arrow said.

Chloe pushed a button on her headset. She looked over at the satellite image and pointed. "That's Oliver." Chloe said to Edward. "Aquaman, Cyborg, and Impulse." She pointed out the others. Edward just nodded. They could hear what sounded like a fight over the speakers and Edward saw that Chloe was holding her breath. Green Arrows red form moved past the four now still red forms.

"Clear." Green Arrow said and Chloe exhaled. "Right, you're good for now. Go thirty more yards and you'll come to a dead end, take a right and the first door on your left is the maintenance room."

"Got it." Green Arrow said.

"Impulse." Chloe turned her attention to another red form on the screen. "I need you to follow the corridor you're in, there are three lefts and file storage should be right there at the end."

"On it." Impulse said and Edward watched as the red form Chloe had pointed out to him as impulse seemed to drag across the screen as a blur then it was solitary again. "What can I get for you today Watchtower, I've got a lovely assortment of medical files, tons of x-rays."

"Leave those and let them burn, you know what I need, paperwork, payroll, invoices, shipping records."

"No problem, consider it done." Impulse said and Chloe turned her attention to another dot on the screen.

"Cyborg." She said and Edward changed his attention to the Cyborg form. "You are…" She smiled. "In the mainframe all ready."

"Yeah, while you're busying chatting with Impulse, I did what I needed to do." He smiled. "Sending now."

Chloe turned to the black screen and typed something in and suddenly lines of information started scrolling down the screen rapidly. "Don't forget…"

"To wipe the system?" Cyborg chuckled. "This ain't my first Rodeo."

"Sorry." Chloe said sipping her coffee.

"I've got a situation." Aquaman said. Chloe turned her attention to the satellite image.

"What's going on?" Chloe zoomed the image in on Aquaman's position.

"I've got people here." He said.

"What?" Chloe typed something on the keyboard. "There's no heat signatures in that part of the building besides you."

"Well…they're frozen." Aquaman said.

"Repeat that?" Chloe stopped typing and tilted her head.

"There are these…tube things with people inside, I think they're frozen." Aquaman said.

"How many?" Chloe asked.

"Four."

"Hang tight." Chloe switched back into Watchtower mode. "Green Arrow this is Watchtower we've got a situation."

"What?"

"Aquaman's got frozen test subjects in the West Corridor." Chloe said.

"I'm on my way." Green Arrow said.

"No." Chloe typed something else and a new screen popped up. "I'm gonna send Cyborg his way, I need you to time delay the detonators."

"Copy that." Green Arrow said. "Will five minutes do it?"

Chloe was looking at the schematics for the cryo tubes from the information Cyborg sent her. "Better make it fifteen. We've got to delicately disable the system or they'll die." Chloe said. "Cyborg you done?" She asked.

"Just finished." He said. "Heading to exit."

"I need you to detour to Aquaman's position; we've got some frozen test subjects we need to evacuate." Chloe said.

"I'm on it." Cyborg said.

"Impulse." Chloe called out.

"All done Watchtower." He said.

"I need you to go back and get some medical records for me." Chloe said.

"Sure, give me names." Impulse said.

"Aquaman, you have any names or file numbers to go with the subjects?"

"Let me check." He said. "Yeah ready?"

"Go." Chloe nodded and Aquaman rattled of four numbers to her which she repeated to Impulse.

"Got em," Impulse said.

"Cyborg, can you send me visual of the room. I'm gonna talk you through closing down the tubes."

"Online in three, two, one…there."

Edward looked at the new screen that popped up, streaming video from the lab and his breath caught in his throat. It looked like something out of a horror movie, there were four tubes with people inside, all frozen, they looked dead. He could tell Chloe was having the same reaction as he was but she pushed through it and got back on task.

"Ok." She turned to the schematics she had up on the other monitor. "Aquaman, I need you to monitor their vitals while we do this."

"No problem." Aquaman said.

"Cyborg." Chloe cricked her neck settling in to get to work. "I need you to access the system and slowly raise the temperature, not to fast or they'll crash."

"I'll be gentle." He said walking to a computer on the other side of the room.

"When they get to 80 you can take them out safely." She said.

"Check." Cyborg was typing rapidly on the computer as Aquaman stood stoically in the background.

"Vitals holding steady." He said watching the monitors. "We're at 70 and climbing."

"Good job." Chloe sighed in relief. "Make sure to get them out of the blast zone."

"Will do." Cyborg said walking over to the tubes. "And 80. Let's go." Aquaman and Cyborg opened the tubes and carried the people out.

"Arrow." Chloe said. "I need you and Impulse with Aquaman and Cyborg. You've got to get the subjects out."

"We're on our way." Green Arrow said.

Chloe watched their progress through the lab on the satellite image and finally relaxed when they'd made it far enough away from the building.

"All out." Green Arrow said. "We'll take the subjects back to my lab."

"Impulse has the medical records your good to go."

"Quick thinking Watchtower."

Chloe looked at the clock on her computer and turned to Edward. "This is pretty cool." She zoomed out on the satellite image so the whole lab was in view and smiled. "Five, four, three, two, one." When she hit one an explosion rocked the building followed by another, then another.

"One more down, God knows how many to go." Green Arrow said. "Signing off, get some sleep Watchtower."

"You too." Chloe said before taking the ear piece out of her ear.

Edward was still watching the satellite as the compound burned to the ground. "That was." He looked up at Chloe, a loss for something to say.

"My job." She shrugged at him as she went back to the computer.

"What are you doing now?" He asked interested.

"I'm checking for any additional records on those numbers Aquaman gave me. The medical records should help Oliver stabilize them but I want to know what Lex was doing with them."

"You can find that out?"

"Hopefully, that's what they pay me the big bucks for." She smiled. "So what do you think?"

"I think your…amazing." He said to her. "Absolutely amazing."

She blushed. "You should try and get some sleep. I might be at this a while."

"Ok." Edward kissed her cheek. "I'll see you…well later."

"Night." Chloe said not looking up from the computer screen.

* * *

Chloe felt invigorated the next day, having Edward know about what she did, watch her do her Watchtower thing, just seemed right to her. She practically skipped down the stairs to the kitchen area and leaned against the counter as she batted her eyelashes up at Raymond. "Oh no." He set his knife down and stopped chopping the vegetables in front of him. "This is serious this face, you want something big."

"Not too big." Chloe assured him. "I have a date today. Just a picnic, for two."

"Oliver coming back today?" Raymond asked.

"No." Chloe shook her head. "I'm gonna take Edward down to the clearing, it's a beautiful day and we're going to have a picnic."

Raymond smiled at her. "Sure what can I do for you?"

"How about traditional picnic fare." She grabbed a strawberry and bit into it. "Fried chicken, Potato salad, the usual stuff. Oh and there are some special ingredients I'm gonna need." Chloe grabbed a pad by the fridge and started to write something down. She handed it over to Raymond who looked at it then nodded.

"You are the best." Chloe said. "One of these days I'm gonna convince you to quit this job and marry me." She kissed him on the cheek.

"Yeah yeah." Raymond smiled. "You're such a tease."

Chloe passed Ms. Reynolds on her way to get ready and smiled at the woman. "Good morning." She said. "Is Edward up yet?"

"Yes." Ms. Reynolds looked at her strangely. "He's requested to be taken to the sun room."

"Oh Good." Chloe smiled. "Would you tell him I'll be down in about an hour?" Ms. Reynolds just nodded as Chloe practically danced up the steps.

She found Edward in the sun room an hour later and walked over to him. "What do you have planned for the day?"

"Oh I'm pretty busy." He said to her. "I thought I'd go skydiving, then maybe deep sea fishing, possibly a hike up Mount Kilimanjaro.

"Nah." Chloe laughed. Everyday Edward listed things that most people say they want to do before they die, but he had no desire to do any of those things. "I have something much more exciting planned." Chloe held out her hand and pulled him up. "If you will be so kind as to accompany me?"

"I would be honored." He let her pull him up and they walked toward the back deck. Raymond intercepted them with a hand on Chloe's arm.

"Everything's ready." He said to her.

"Great." She kissed his cheek and then slipped her arm in Edwards and led him down the garden to the clearing. They had set up a blanket and a few cushions for her and Edward and he smiled.

"A picnic?" He looked at Chloe. "This is fantastic." She helped him sit down on one of the cushions and then opened the cooler taking the food out. "Jillian used to do this." He told Chloe.

"Really?" Chloe smiled.

"Every now and then she'd just wake up and decide to have a picnic." Edward said and started to fix his plate.

"Just a second." Chloe said pulling her special ingredients out. "I've got a surprise."

She set her things up on the bench to use as a table top and started mixing things in a glass. "Is that what I think it is?" Edward smiled at her.

"An Egg Cream." Chloe nodded. "Remember you told me the story about how you had one once as a kid in New York and then forced your chef to learn how to make it."

"I used to have one every day." Edward said. "How did you learn it?"

"Internet." Chloe said stirring the ingredients very quickly.

"Amazing invention." Edward said. They ate their food and drank their egg creams and then just laid on the blanket and stared at the sky telling each other stories for hours.

"So Oliver is completely naked." Edward said. "Running through the party, weaving in and out of people and Jillian and his mom were chasing him, trying to catch him. Everyone was just minding their business as if it happened all the time."

"From what I gathered, I did happen all the time." Chloe said laughing. This was the third story Edward had involving a naked Oliver.

"So Jillian and his mom have him cornered. They're circling around him and he's eyeing them like he's planning on making a break for it. Meanwhile his dad's just standing at the bar laughing and his mom glares at him as says, "I could use some help here." His dad rolls his yes and says, "He's only five." But Oliver's mom glares and he turns to Oliver and says, "Hey sport, you wanna put some clothes on?" And Oliver puts his hands on his hips and sighs. "Dad, I'm the Lone Ranger." And his dad says, "I'm pretty sure the Lone Ranger wore clothes." So Oliver rolls his eyes and stomps back into the house."

Chloe laughed even harder. "You know I'm so using that story against him." Chloe smiled as her phone rang and she looked at the screen. "Speak of the devil."

"You get it." Edward said. "I'll start cleaning up."

Chloe stood up and answered the phone. "Hey you." She said. "Edward was just telling me a very interesting story about you." Chloe said. "Something about running through his garden party naked, claiming to be the Lone Ranger."

"That man is full of lies." Oliver said.

"Really?" Chloe smiled.

"Can't believe a word he says." Oliver told her.

"Is that so?" Chloe laughed.

"Yeah and if he tries to tell you something about getting caught in the garden shed with Michelle Baker you just plug your ears and walk away."

"I'm so gonna ask him about that now." Chloe said.

"Of course you are, I just walk into these things don't I?"

"You really do."

"Ok lets stop talking about naked Oliver." He told her.

"Do we have to?" Chloe pouted.

"I called for a reason." Oliver said. "I wanted to know if you got anything off the stuff from last night."

"Chloe?" Edward called out to her.

She held up a finger, asking for a minute. "I didn't get much done, haven't really gotten that into it."

"Chloe." Edward called to her.

"Just a minute." Chloe said. "I'll get on it as soon as I can…" She stopped when she heard a glass break. She turned around and saw Edward fall to the ground, the other glass in his hand falling on the bench and shattering. "Edward?" Chloe said running over to him.

"Chloe?" Oliver screamed.

She reached Edward finally, everything felt like it was in slow motion. She grabbed his head and saw his eyes flutter as his hand reached out for her. She felt for a pulse, it was slowing down. "Stay with me." She said

"One perfect day." Edward told her as his eyes closed.

"No." Chloe started crying as she hung up on Oliver and dialed emergency services.

It took an hour for the paramedics to get there and in that time Chloe hadn't moved. No on in the house even knew what was going on so they were surprised when the ambulance showed up. The paramedics were followed to the clearing by Simon and Ms. Reynolds, all who found Chloe kneeling on the ground with Edwards head in her lap, rocking back and forth and crying.

"Ma'am." They knelt by her. "We need you to move." They tried to pull her away and she pulled back, not moving an inch.

"Chloe." Simon said grabbing her gently by the arm and dragging her away. Ms. Reynolds came up behind her and grabbed her shoulders as she stared at the paramedics doing their job. They did CPR for a few minutes and then she saw one look at the other and shake his head.

There was a parade of people in and out of the house that day. The phone wouldn't stop ringing, Chloe's phone wouldn't stop ringing. Edward's doctor explained that his heart probably failed, it wasn't a heart attack exactly so much as his heart just stopped working.

Raymond managed to get Chloe to eat something. Ms. Reynolds tried to get her to sleep but she said she had too much to do. She couldn't seem to settle her mind. She had to call the funeral home and the church. Edward's lawyer had given her a list of things that Edward requested and Chloe was working her ass off to make sure that each one was done to perfection, exactly how Edward would have wanted it.

She was on the phone with the florist, pacing in the entry way when the door opened and Oliver, Lois, and Clark stood in the door. "Chloe." Oliver said looking exhausted.

"Hey." She smiled and put a hand over the phone. "What are you guys doing here?"

"What do you mean what are we doing here?" Lois dropped her bag and walked to Chloe to hug her. "We're here for Edward's funeral, for you."

"You didn't need to come." Chloe said confused. "You didn't even know Edward."

"Chloe." Oliver said confused.

"Hold on." She went back to her phone conversation. "Yes, the white ones, two hundred, I need them here by one o'clock. Thanks that's great." She hung up the phone.

"How are you?" Clark asked.

"I'm fine, really guys, you didn't have to come all this way." Chloe said.

"Of course we did." Lois said. "You were there for me when Grant died. I'm gonna be here for you."

"That's sweet really." Chloe said. "But I'm fine." She turned to the door. "Ryan could you get someone to bring their things to the guest rooms?" He nodded at Chloe and she turned to go to the kitchen. "Look, I'd love to stay and catch up but I've got a ton of things to do so if you guys just want to go into the Sun room, I'll have Raymond bring you some food, I'll be there in a little bit."

"Chloe, you don't have to do all this." Oliver told her.

"Who else is going to do it?" She asked him confused. "I'll send Raymond to see what you guys want to eat, ok? Julia, can you show them to the sun room?"

"I know the way." Oliver said strangely. He led Lois and Clark to the Sun room and stopped in the doorway when he saw Abby, Lily, and Rose sitting there. "Hey." He said. "You guys get banished here too?"

"Three hours ago." Abby said.

"How is she really?" Oliver asked sitting down.

"I don't know." Abby shrugged. "She's been going non stop since we got here."

"She was like this when Gabe died." Lois said. "It's gonna hit her soon and it's gonna hit her hard."

"We'll be here when it does." Oliver assured Lois.

She spent the whole day working on arrangements and very little time with her friends, who tried everything to get her to slow down, to relax. But Chloe had to keep going, she couldn't stop because if she stopped, she'd have to much time to think so she kept herself busy.

The problem arouse the next day at the funeral. There was nothing left to do, nothing left to plan, nothing to keep her busy and she kind of shut down. She didn't say a word at the church, she didn't say a word at the cemetery and she stood on the porch at the house, staring away into nothing.

Chloe stared down the slope of the garden and wanted nothing more than to walk down there and hideaway in the secret garden, the last place she and Edward had been, the last place he'd smiled and laughed. "Chloe." Abby touched her arm and turned around to see a group of people looking at her expectantly, they'd obviously been calling her for a while.

"Yeah." She said softly. "Sorry." She hugged her arms closer to her as she shivered and wondered if she'd ever feel warm again.

"They're running out of canapés." Abby said softly.

"Out?" Chloe looked around confused. "We've only been back for thirty minutes."

"We've been back for two hours." Lily said.

Chloe looked around the yard for the first time and saw all of the people there. "Honey, maybe you should go lie down."

"Who are all these people?" Chloe asked confused as everywhere she looked she saw crowds and crowds of people, all dressed more for a cocktail party than a funeral reception.

"Friends of your Uncles." Rose said confused.

"No, I don't know these people." Chloe said shaking her head as if something was wrong.

"They're here for you, for your uncle." Abby spoke quietly and slow as if Chloe was three.

"No." She said forcefully watching them drinking and chatting, networking. "They're not. They're here to be here." She said disgusted.

Abby, Rose, and Lily looked at Chloe worried. She was staring around the yard like she'd never been there before in her life, she looked confused. "I want them to leave." She said turning to Abby with such conviction they were shocked.

"Lily, go get Oliver." Abby whispered.

"I don't want Oliver." Chloe said louder and some people turned their way. "I want these people out of his house."

Lily looked between Abby and Chloe unsure which one to listen to. Rose nodded her head in the direction Oliver was and Lily nodded walking away. "Chloe you should go lie down." Abby grabbed her arm and tried to steer her up the steps.

"I don't want to lie down." Chloe screamed jerking her arm away from Abby.

"How is she doing?" Bruce asked Oliver stealing a glance at Chloe; she was fighting with Abby about something, staring out at the garden.

"I don't know." Oliver admitted. "She hasn't cried yet." He glanced over at her. "Not once, she just stares vacantly and I just don't know what to do."

"You just have to give her time, she'll get better." Bruce said.

"Did you ever get better?" Oliver raised his eyebrows. Bruce was one of the only people Oliver knew that could understand what Chloe was feeling.

"No." Bruce said after a pause and Oliver sighed.

"Me either."

"I don't' want to lie down." Chloe screamed loudly and Oliver's head snapped up when he heard her voice and he saw Lois trying to catch his attention.

"Excuse me." He said to the group that he was in and he and Bruce followed Lily back to Chloe. "What's going on?"

"I don't know, she seems out of it." Lily said. "She's confused and angry Abby went to tell her that the canapés were running out and she just got really mad and…"

"Ok." Oliver nodded at Lily to thank her and walked over to Chloe. "Chloe, I'll deal with the canapés, why don't you go sit down for a while, take a break."

"I don't care about the freaking canapés Oliver." Chloe screamed at him and now everyone was looking at her. "What I care about is all these people here, pretending that they care that he's gone."

"Chloe." Oliver said shocked. "Everyone here cares about your Uncle."

"I don't know these people Oliver and I find it extremely hard to believe that they knew my Uncle." She snapped at him. "I want them to leave." She said loudly. "Make them leave."

"I can't just." Oliver stopped when Chloe turned away from him and walked over to the table that was holding the canapés, grabbed it and flipped it over sending platters and glasses flying across the yard. She walked to the bar and swept her hand across the top, knocking all of the bottles over the edge to smash on the patio.

"The food is gone." Chloe announced. "The bar is closed. Leave." She glared at them long enough to let everyone know she wasn't kidding and then stormed off in the other direction.

"Chloe." Bruce said stepping in her path.

"You want to move." She said calmly. He looked at her for a second and then nodded moving out of her way.

She stormed into the house and Oliver looked at Abby. "Could you please escort everyone out?"

"Sure." Abby said as Oliver took off after Chloe. He could hear Abby make an announcement. "Everyone, Chloe is understandably upset today; I think it would just be best if she had some time alone. I know she really appreciated all of you coming but for now, if we could just have everyone leave." Abby nodded at the staff and they understood her meaning and began escorting guests through the house and out of the door.

Chloe wasn't in her bedroom so he walked down the hall and sighed in relief when he saw her sitting on the window seat in Edwards's old room. "You've got to stop being mad at him." Oliver said standing in the doorway.

"You really need to leave." Chloe said staring out the window.

"No." Oliver said defiantly. She didn't turn away from the window. "You need to come downstairs."

"Why?" She asked, her voice not filled with venom anymore, just hopeless curiosity.

"Abby's sending everyone home." He took another step into the room, slowly making his way to the window seat. "But she's worried about you. So are Lily and Rose and Bruce."

"I don't care." She said.

"You do." Oliver said. "You need to get over this…anger you have toward him."

"Why do you think I'm mad at him?" She asked and Oliver did catch the emphasis on the word him.

"Who else could you be mad at?" He asked quietly.

She turned slowly to face him, her cheeks splotchy and red, her make-up no doubt ruined, although it was hard to tell behind the sunglasses. "You." She said as if it was obvious.

"Me?" Oliver was taken aback. He dropped his hand from her shoulder. "Why are you mad at me?"

"This is all your fault." Chloe explained exasperated. "I never would have met Edward, much less cared for him if you hadn't had your stupid plan."

"My stupid plan?" Oliver seemed hurt by that.

"Fighting Lex Luther, saving innocents, grow up Oliver." She stood up slowly but steadily. "You and your need for Justice, that's what, brought me here. What good has it done? Lex his building labs faster than we can shut them down, more and more people are joining with him? What good was any of this?"

"Chloe just stop." Oliver said.

"And you knew, you knew when you brought me in he was dying and you let me…"

"I've apologized for that Chloe, so much." He begged her to understand.

"What does that matter? A sorry? It's a word, a useless, stupid word. Are you sorry?" She asked him. "Are you sorry about anything that happened? You're not sorry about who I've become, about how well your plan worked, you're not sorry about that."

"No." Oliver admitted. "I'm not sorry about that."

"I am." She screamed. "I'm sorry I ever agreed to this, I'm sorry I ever met you."

'Don't say that Chloe." Oliver begged her. "What can I do here? How can I help make this better?"

"I want to go back." She deflated again and she wasn't angry anymore, she was hurting and scared. "I want to go back to Smallville. I want to sit at my crappy desk at the Daily Planet and have coffee with my friends and pretend you don't exist." She cried. "Can you do that? Can you give me back my other life?"

"No." He shook his head.

"Then I quit." Chloe said. "I don't want to do this anymore, play these stupid games. I'm done Oliver, no more Watchtower. Then I could just go back and forget about all of this."

"You don't really want that."

"Yes I do." She screamed at him. "I do."

"Why?" He asked desperately.

"Because it wouldn't hurt this much." She grabbed her chest. "I would be sitting at a table at the Talon and I would read about his death in the paper and I would vaguely recognize his name and then I would move on, to another story."

"God Chloe." Oliver said as she stormed out of the room. He followed behind her as she made her way down the stairs, thankfully everyone except her friends were gone. "Chloe stop." He grabbed her arm and turned her around. "How could you say something like that? How could you want that?"

"Because then, it wouldn't hurt like this." She said falling against him. "I can't breathe sometimes it hurts so bad, I feel like I'm drowning and I can't." She started sobbing harder and gasping for breath. "It's all your fault." She said through her tears and he tried to hug her. "No." She hit him. "Don't touch me." She tried to push away, tried to hit his chest again but he was holding onto her wrists and she couldn't go anywhere.

"Chloe, it's gonna be ok." He said pulling her closer.

"No." She said giving into him and collapsing into his hug. "I can't breathe." She sobbed. "It hurts, Oliver, it hurts."

"I know." Oliver said rubbing her back, tears welling up in his eyes because there was nothing he could do to make this hurt go away. He'd felt it before, when his parents died, and he knows she'd felt it before when Gabe died, and he knew that she was right, that she wouldn't be feeling it now if it weren't for him. He hated himself for putting her through this but he knew she didn't mean what she was saying, not all of it anyway.

"Make it stop Oliver." She sobbed into his chest. "I want to breathe again."

"I can't." He said to her sadly. "I would if I could, you have to believe that." He held on tighter, hoping that it was comforting her, that it was helping somehow but he knew it wasn't. She clutched at him, her fingers digging into his shoulders and she held on to him as if her life depended on it.

"Make it stop." She mumbled over and over again until she just didn't have the strength anymore and her legs gave away. Oliver followed her down to the ground, slowly lowering her to the floor without letting go. He just held on and rocked her back and forth as she gathered herself together.

"It's ok." He whispered over and over in her ear. "It's gonna be ok." He said as her breathing slowed. After five or ten minutes it was just the two of them, holding onto each other on the floor.

"Oh my god." Chloe said quietly into his chest and Oliver followed her gaze out to the backyard. "Oh my god."

"It's ok." Oliver assured her.

"It's not ok." She said pulling herself away from him and standing up. "I did that…" She looked between the destroyed yard and Oliver. "I made such a scene."

"People will understand." Oliver assured her.

"And if they don't." Lois said from the corner of the room. "We'll kick their asses."

"Yeah." Rose nodded smiling sadly at Chloe.

"I'm so sorry." Chloe said walking toward them.

"Oh honey you don't' have to apologize." Lois grabbed her into a hug. "You don't have to apologize at all." She rubbed circles on her back and Lily stepped in and threw her arms around both of them, then Rose and Abby stepped in and hugged them all.

"I think I might go lay down for a while." Chloe smiled weakly.

"Probably a good idea." Oliver said taking her arm, only this time she allowed him to lead her up the stairs. She hadn't been in her room in a week. She'd moved into the room next to Edwards when his condition worsened and he could no longer walk around. She wanted to be close, right there in case anything happened.

When she saw her bed she realized how exhausted she was, remembered that she hadn't slept in a days. Oliver led her over to it and helped her sit down. She had just run out of steam somewhere between sobbing on the floor and sitting on the bed that she didn't even have the energy to undress. "You can't sleep in that." Oliver told her and she looked at him blankly. He smiled and walked to the closet coming back in with some sweatpants and a shirt. "Here." He pulled her shoes and pantyhose off and then pulled the dress over her head.

"That's dry clean." She managed to say and he picked it up from the floor and set it back on the hanger.

"Help me just a little." He asked trying to get her arms through the sleeves of the shirt. She somehow managed to do that and help him with the pants. "Just sleep ok." Oliver said lying her down on the bed and pulling the covers over her. "I'll be downstairs if you need anything."

"No." Chloe called out desperately. The strength in her voice startled Oliver and he stopped his walk to the door. "I don't want to be alone." She whispered.

"Ok." Oliver said and stripped his jacket and tie off. "I'll stay." He laid them on the chair beside the bed and sat down she shook her head and patted the bed next to her. He smiled and then climbed in and she wrapped his arms around her and he pulled her close. "I'm here, you can sleep now."

"Thank you." She whispered before passing out. He listened to her breathing even out and the soft rhythm reminded him just how tired he was. It was 2 in the morning in Star City when he finally got through to the house and Ms. Reynolds told him what happened. He left thirty minutes later and hadn't slept since he got there and now it was catching up with him. He closed his eyes, just for a second, he told himself but before he could stop, he was out cold.

Chloe opened her eyes and blinked. The sun was coming in through the window and she shook her head in confusion. It had been late afternoon when she went to bed, but it looked like morning. She checked the clock, it was 6 a.m. She'd slept straight through the night. She sighed, feeling much better than she had the day before, the horrible day before and tried to turn over, only to be held in place by a very strong arm. She looked over her shoulder and smiled at the sight of Oliver's sleeping face, his forehead nuzzled in against her neck. He murmured something and pulled her closer to him. She kissed his forehead and sighed. "Go back to sleep." He said, moving his head slightly to dig further into the pillow.

"Ok." She whispered but she was awake now. She turned to her nightstand to see if there was a book or something she could read lying on it and stopped when she saw a small box. The same box that Oliver always left her charms in. How long had it been sitting there? She couldn't remember the last time she'd been in her bedroom. She slowly reached out and picked it up.

"What is it?" Oliver asked from over her shoulder.

"I don't know." She turned to face him. "Didn't you?"

"No." He shook his head and yawned. "It's not from me."

She looked at Oliver then the box and lifted the lid slowly. Inside was a charm, exactly like the ones that Oliver bought her but this was a mask. She lifted it up to get a better look. "There's a note." Oliver told her and she set the charm on the bedside table and pulled the note out. "A mask for my superhero. I know that this is Oliver's thing, the charms, but I wanted you to have something on there from me. Something that shows you how proud I am of you…" Chloe choked up and put a hand to her mouth. Oliver lifted his arm off of Chloe and took the note from her gently.

"I sat beside you last night and watched as you saved the lives of four people, four people who no one else even knew needed saving. You did it without acknowledgement and refused to accept praise because as you said, it was your job. But it's not your job. It's your choice. You're that person that knows something isn't right and fixes it because it has to be done. I used to be amazed by your business skills but even after a while I just came to expect the best from you, but last night I saw so much more than a reporter, more than a business genius, I saw a hero. I want you to know that I know who you are and what you do, even if no else ever does and I'm so proud to have known you, even if it was only for six far too short years. You're my hero Chloe and one day, I just know, you'll be the world's hero."

Oliver folded up the note, moved on Chloe's behalf. He looked over, expecting her to be crying but she wasn't, and she was just staring at the charm. "I quit yesterday." She said looking over at Oliver.

"You didn't mean it." Oliver argued with her.

"I did." Chloe said running her hands over the silver mask. "I meant every word of it. I thought what we were doing was useless, futile." She sighed and smiled slightly. "I guess I got short sighted, lost the mission."

"What do you mean?" Oliver sat up straighter in the bed and looked at her.

"I was so consumed, so overwhelmed; I had Lex blinders on, wanted nothing more than to just stop him, destroy him." Chloe shook her head. "Which is good, he needs to be stopped. But I was coming to the realization that we just couldn't do it. It was a useless fight, for every lab we destroy he puts up two more. We'd been trailing behind him for six years and I just thought we would have been further along. But it's not about that."

"No." Oliver said. He'd had to come to this realization on his own, and he was glad now that Chloe was finally figuring it out.

"It's about those four people." Chloe said. "The ones we saved from him, the ones no one even knew were in danger. I didn't even bother…I never asked how they were doing, I was obsessed with sorting through the files, finding the next target."

"They're fine." Oliver smiled at her. "Recovering nicely."

"And they'll be fine." Chloe said smiling and shaking her head. "Because of what you guys did."

"What we did." Oliver corrected her.

"They'll have a normal life…well as close to normal as they can get, but it won't be in a lab, it won't be in a tube." She looked at Oliver. "How many more people out there are like them?"

"I don't know." Oliver said. "But we'll find them, and we'll save them, and it may take six more years, or sixteen more, but we'll stop Lex."

Chloe looked over at him sadly. "But I quit yesterday."

Oliver snorted. "You can't quit." He scoffed at her. "I told you, this was the last job you'd ever take and I mean that."


	13. Chapter 13

When she got back to Star City Chloe jumped into her work with the JLA, more than she had before. She was more determined than ever to bring Lex down but it wasn't as much about that anymore as it was about helping the people that he hurt. The new charm Edward gave her served as a reminder to her everyday that she needed to do everything in her power to help those people that couldn't help themselves.

They'd gotten another letter from Cassandra, Chloe had gone out on a limb and written something in code and sent it to Susan, who sent it to Cassandra. She appreciated what Cassandra was doing, sending them where they needed to go, helping them out but Chloe wanted to help Cassandra, wanted to get her away from Lex, she could help them just as much from Star City as she could from her prison cell.

Cassandra wrote back and told Chloe not to worry about her, Lex wasn't hurting her, wasn't experimenting on her, was actually treating her very well. She also told her that it was easier to see what she needed to see when she was closer to him but there was a factory in Nova Scotia that was creating an experimental nerve gas using a Meta and if they wanted to help her they could start there.

Oliver and the guys left the next day and shut the place down with very little trouble. And that was great but Chloe wasn't feeling like she was contributing enough though, she wanted more. "You guys did good." She said patching a cut on Oliver's head that he'd got in a fight with a guard. She'd tried to heal him but for some reason her powers weren't working great right now. Oliver suggested that it was possible, since they were tied in with her emotions, that Edward's death and thrown her off a little and she would be fine in a few weeks or so.

"We did good." Oliver corrected her.

"Yeah." Chloe tossed a bloody rag in the trash. "I did a whole lot. Telling you were to turn and where the guards were." She sighed opening a bandage.

"Hey." He grabbed her hand and forced her to look at him. "You know you're more than a glorified GPS right?" Chloe sighed. "Right?"

"I guess." Chloe said. "I just, I want to do more. I want to do feel like I'm doing more. I want to be on the ground, in the action."

"You wanna come with us?" Oliver asked.

"I want to feel like I'm doing something more than just the leg work." Chloe said.

"I think we can swing that." Oliver smiled.

"Yeah?" Chloe asked.

"Next time we go out, you're there." Oliver told her.

"Thanks." Chloe said putting the bandage on his forehead and smiling.

* * *

The excitement over the fact that she was going to be able to go on the next mission made Chloe work furiously to find something, anything that she could take to Oliver. For two weeks she poured over every scrap of information they'd gathered to date looking for signs that Lex had moved to another place, built another lab. She tried to find the usual tell tale signs, an large order from Luther Corp for medical equipment, a small town that suddenly had an influx of income from some outside source, she even spent a day reviewing satellite images, unsuccessfully trying to find any large facilities in area's Chloe knew he liked to work. She wasn't expecting to find a blinking neon sign that said "Experimental Luther Corp Laboratory" with a giant flashing arrow but she wasn't finding much of anything else either. She checked the mail everyday, hoping for something from Cassandra as well, but it never happened.

She was going over a box of e-mails they'd printed out from one of Lex's main Doctors, Dr. Rao, who headed up his genetics department when Victor called one day. "You still reading those e-mails?" He asked.

"There's something here, I know it, I just can't see it." She sighed.

"Maybe because you haven't slept in a week." He pointed out to her.

"I sleep." She argued.

"Barely." He scoffed. "You need to slow down, you can't keep going like this."

"You think Lex is going to slow down?" Chloe asked him.

"No." Victor said. "Of course I don't. Lex isn't going to suddenly decide to turn over a new leaf. There are labs out there, and he'll just make more of them, and sooner or later he's going to slip up and leave a trail and you'll find it because that's what you do. But you don't have to put your life on hold while you wait."

"I'm not putting my life on hold." Chloe said.

"Really?" Victor asked. "What did you do last night?"

"I was going over the stuff from the lab in Nova Scotia." She said as if it was a perfectly reasonable way to spend the evening.

"And what were you supposed to do yesterday?" He asked her.

"What…" Chloe looked at the calendar on her desk and gasped. "The art gallery opening. Oh my god I totally forgot."

"I know." Victor said. "Oliver called me like six times complaining about the fact that you stood him up."

"Oh god, I'm so horrible." She sighed.

"No you're not, your just preoccupied." Victor told her. "Just do me a favor, get out of the house, eat some real food, do something besides staring at e-mails, even if it's only for a few hours."

"Fine." Chloe sighed and dropped the stack of papers to her desk. "I'll talk to you later." She hung up the phone and walked to her fridge, frowning at the contents. There were a few wedges of different cheeses, a bottle of apple juice and a bag of what Chloe guessed had once been fresh bell peppers but was now nothing more than an unrecognizable green mush. She grabbed the bag with two fingers and carried over to the trash as she dialed Oliver's number.

"Well, you're phone does work." Oliver said a little coldly.

"I am so sorry." Chloe winced; she vaguely remembered ignoring his call the night before. "Let me make it up to you, take you out to dinner?'

"You're fridge is empty isn't it?" Oliver said.

"Yes." Chloe sighed. "But that's not why I'm calling, really. I feel awful about the art gallery thing, I know I've been a little preoccupied lately and I want to make it up to you."

He was silent for a while. "Don't think because you buy me dinner and apologize that I'm not still mad, I'm just hungry." He said.

"I understand."

"I'm not that easy you know." Oliver pointed out to her.

"I know." Chloe said. "I have a lot to make up to you."

"Good, so were on the same page."

"I'll pick you up in twenty minutes ok."

"Don't be late." Oliver said before hanging up the phone.

* * *

"Thank you for coming with me." Chloe said as she strolled through the park with Oliver after dinner.

"Thanks for the flowers." He smiled over at her.

She shrugged. "I figured after standing you up I better not show up empty handed." She said nudging his shoulder. "And the liquor store was closed." He laughed and looked over at her concerned.

"So crazy obsessed Chloe is gone?" He asked hopefully.

"I wasn't crazy obsessed was I?" She asked.

"Bart said he went over there yesterday to get something to eat and you were pacing back and forth mumbling to yourself. You were so engrossed in what you were doing you didn't even see him." Oliver smiled. "That's how I know your fridge was empty."

"Wow." Chloe stopped walking and sat on a bench. "I guess I've been a little single minded lately. I am sorry for that. I just… I really want to do this, I want to be more involved." She looked at him. "Part of it is about being able to go with you guys and help out and part of it is about the fact that we know right now, somewhere Lex has got five or six places where he's holding people hostage, experimenting on them, doing God knows what with the results and there's nothing I can do to help because I can't find them."

"Hey." Oliver put an arm over her shoulder. "We do what we can." He said. "The fact that we know he's out there, doing those things is more than anyone else. We'll find him, and we'll stop it, and we'll move onto the next one but there's only so much we can do and as hard as that concept is, it's something you've got to accept. I'm not telling you not to look, I'm just saying, maybe limit it to between 2 and 4 in the afternoon?"

"You're right." Chloe smiled and leaned against his shoulder. They sat in the quite park for a few minutes before Chloe jumped up. "Hey, can we stop at The Creamery on our way back? It's Tuesday and that means they should have the Double Chocolate Rum ice cream." Oliver smiled and stood up.

"I guess so." He sighed grabbing her hand and pulling her down the street.

"Can I get two scoops?" She asked hopefully.

"Wow, two scoops, I don' t know Chloe, you're pushing the budget here." She looked up at him and pouted. "I think I can swing two scoops." He told her.

"Can I get a chocolate dipped cone?"

"What are you trying to do? Bankrupt me?" Oliver asked.

* * *

Chloe ignored her desk for another week, she didn't even give it a passing glance until the day she was having everyone over for dinner and she was cleaning up. The clutter on the desk was ridiculous, papers were strewn everywhere, no wonder they called her crazy obsessed Chloe. She started to pick them all up when something caught her eye. She debated ignoring it, walking away, but she couldn't. She sat down and turned on her computer to look something up and smiled slowly.

Two hours after Chloe had said dinner would be ready, everyone was still waiting for her to start it. Bart and Victor were playing a video game as Oliver and AC half watched them, Chloe was still on the computer. "I found it." She said suddenly.

"I didn't know we lost something." Bart said confused, not moving his eyes from the screen. "What did you do that for?" He said suddenly when the game was paused. Victor was looking at Chloe and Oliver had stood up straighter.

"How?" Oliver asked.

"The e-mails, from Doctor Rao." Chloe looked at Victor. "She kept talking about sending off samples and test results and specimens to Eugene. But I couldn't find a Eugene anywhere, first name, last name, Lex does not employ a single Eugene, so it just hit me, Eugene might be a place." Victor's interest was piqued now. He walked over to the computer and looked over her shoulder. "And I was right. Eugene, Oregon." Chloe pulled up a map and it slowly zoomed in on something. "Home of one of the oldest Lex Luther facilities." She sighed. "That's why I couldn't find anything. It wasn't new, he didn't build it in the last six months, it's been there for six years."

"How did we not know about this?" Oliver asked confused and Chloe shrugged. "Right, I want to know what's going on over there. Bart."

"Give me a map and I'm on my way." He smiled.

"Surveillance only, unless you are sure you can get in and out undetected, 100 positive." Oliver said as Chloe handed Bart the print out.

"You got it Boss." Bart gave Oliver a mock salute and was gone in a second.

"Nice catch Watchtower." Oliver smiled. "But I do believe you promised us diner, a few hours ago, I'm starving."

Chloe jumped up and smiled sheepishly. "I completely forgot. I'll throw something together."

Of course for Chloe, throwing something together was the equivalent of a four course meal. A meal that she couldn't even enjoy because she was pacing back and forth waiting for Bart.

"You made all this food and you're not going to eat?" AC asked reaching for another biscuit . Chloe slapped his hand.

"Save some for Bart." She said. AC dropped it. "I didn't make enough chicken did I?" She walked to the kitchen and opened the fridge.

"There's enough chicken." Oliver told her. "He'll be back when he gets back. Ok?"

"Yeah, yeah." Chloe blew some hair out of her face. "I'm gonna make more chicken." She grabbed the skillet and an onion and started chopping. Five minutes later she had the onions sautéing in the pan and felt a wind at her back.

"Is that for me?" Bart asked smiling.

Chloe turned around quickly. "What did you find?"

"You're gonna burn the onions." He looked at the skillet over her shoulder.

"There's plenty of chicken on the table." Chloe pulled the skillet off the stove top and turned off the gas.

"Then why are you making more?" Bart asked confused.

"Bart." Oliver said in his warning voice and Bart stomped to the table and piled up a plate.

They impatiently let him eat for a while, until Chloe couldn't take it anymore. "What did you find?" She asked again.

"There is some bad mojo going on in there." Bart pushed his plate away from him and took a deep breath. "He's got security like it's going out of style."

"So you couldn't get in?" Oliver asked.

"Come on." Bart smiled. "This is me we're talking about here."

"Then what do you have?" Chloe asked.

Bart tossed Oliver a camera. "Perimeter shots, there might be tons of them but all the guards are on the same 50 minute rotation they must teach at guard school."

"And inside?" Oliver tossed the camera to Victor who walked to the computer to print out the pictures.

"Bad news." Bart shook his head. "I managed to slip in behind someone, but I never made it past the hallway. It's a big place two stories, only about ten rooms but every single door is protected by three systems. Magnetic card reader with an electronic key pad and retinal scanner."

Everyone sort of deflated. This was bad. They were going to have by pass those systems to get into every room and that was gonna take a long time, but the fact that they were there meant that whatever was in the room was worth it. "What's the plan?" Chloe turned to Oliver.

"AC you go through the shots, and record some satellite, between the two we should be able to figure out a shift schedule." Oliver turned to Chloe and Victor. "I need you two to work on the doors."

"On it boss." Victor stood up and Chloe thought about something.

"I'll be right back." She said smiling. She left the apartment while AC got to work and Victor tried to figure out, based on the shots Bart got, what kind of locks he was dealing with. Chloe came back in the apartment twenty minutes later holding a box under her arm.

"Bart." She called. "I've got an idea, come with me."

"Right behind you." Bart jumped up and grabbed a piece of chicken before following Chloe.

She walked over to the couch next to Victor and turned to him. "You are about to be the first person to try out a very expensive new piece of equipment." She picked up the box and held it out to him. He reached for it eagerly and Chloe pulled it back. "You will be so careful with this, more careful than you've ever been with anything else in this world. As careful as you would be if this were a woman." Bart rolled his eyes and Victor snorted. "Ok." Chloe sighed. "As careful as you would be if this were a mint condition X-men number 1."

"Oh." Bart said in understanding and whipped his chicken covered hands on his pants. Victor just shook his head as Bart opened the box and his face fell. "It's a shirt." He looked up.

"It's not just a shirt." Chloe said holding it up. "Victor." Victor pushed some buttons on his computer and Bart saw his face looking back at him. He looked more closely at the shirt and smiled slightly.

"The button is a camera?"

"A highly advanced, prototype. The picture is more clear than high def almost as if it were a three dimensional image." Victor said.

"Which will be the perfect camera for you to get us a retinal image that we can hopefully break down into code and Victor can fool the computer into thinking it's been scanned." Chloe explained.

"Anyone in particular?" Bart asked.

"I need someone with high security clearance." Chloe thought for a second. "Dr. Rao." She said.

"But she's not even part of that facility." Bart pointed out.

"But she's been there." Chloe said pulling a paper out of a stack on the table. "Went to see Eugene today." She read. "She's Lex's top scientist. She'll have the clearance we need."

"So how do we find her?" Oliver jumped in.

Chloe and Victor looked at each other sheepishly. "We know where she is." Victor said.

"We've sort of been keeping tabs on her." Chloe admitted pulling up a file on the computer that had multiple pictures files, a few video files and a lot of other documents, some marked phone records, some marked e-mails, some marked daily itinerary.

"You're stalking her?" Oliver asked.

"We aren't stalking her." Chloe protested. "She's one of the top most people in Lex's organization, we're keeping an eye on her."

"On her every move, every second, of every day." Oliver pointed out.

"Yeah, ok, we're stalking her." Victor said as if it was no big deal.

Bart looked between the two of them and shrugged. "Cool." He said.

"Why don't I know about this?" Oliver asked slightly amused. "I should know about things like this."

"Oliver." Chloe sighed and looked at him very seriously. "If I let you know about everything I do to help you around here, you'd be an accessory to probably at least three dozen federal crimes."

"Plausible deniability." Victor nodded.

"I don't want to hear this." Oliver shook his head and walked away.

Chloe and Victor turned back to Bart. "You'll leave first thing in the morning and I'll be on the coms with you the whole time to let you know when I've got the shot." Chloe said. "Try and get her as far away from work as possible, grocery store, gas station, something like that so no one gets suspicious."

"No worries." Bart smiled and walked backwards toward the door. "I am the epitome stealth." He smiled as his foot hit Chloe's briefcase and he toppled over backwards, and slammed into the ground.

As hard as they tried, they couldn't stop the laughter. "Oh yeah." AC said from the computer. "You're James Bond."

Bart jumped up quickly and dusted off his pants. "First thing in the morning?"

Chloe nodded through her laughter and Bart left the room. As soon as the elevator doors closed the laughter got even louder.

* * *

"Can you see?" Bart's voice came through her speakers. "Is it clear?"

"For the fifth time yes." Chloe said taking a sip of her coffee.

"This is not what I had in mind for first thing in the morning." Bart told her. Chloe looked at the monitor, it was barely light outside in Metropolis, sunrise wasn't for another thirty minutes.

"You thought you'd just roll in there around eleven?" Chloe asked smiling.

"Something like that." Bart yawned. "What the hell is Kundalini?" Bart asked reading the sign on the door.

"Something that evil people get up to do at four in the morning." Chloe yawned. "It's a type of yoga." She corrected herself. "You know what to do?"

"Plow into her." Bart said.

"Make sure you knock her to the ground." Chloe reminded him. "I need her to look up into the camera."

"I know. It's not like I'm defusing a bomb here Chloe, just relax." Chloe sighed as the doors to the Yoga studio opened and people started filling out. "Short brown hair." Chloe said. "Blue shirt, pink mat."

"I got her." Bart said waiting until the crowd thinned a little and then put his head down and moved forward quickly, as if he was in a hurry to get somewhere. The image when fuzzy and she heard Bart apologize. "I'm so sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going." The camera cleared again and Chloe saw Bart's hand reaching out to a woman who was on the ground. She looked up at him and Chloe started typing rapidly.

"I got it." She told him as the image on the screen froze and the program ran, mapping out the pattern of her retina. "Get out of there."

The woman took Bart's hand and smiled at him. "No big deal." She said as he pulled her up.

"Really I'm so sorry, you sure you're ok?" He asked her.

"Fine." She assured him.

"I'm running late, but again, so sorry."

"It's ok." She assured him turning around and walking away. Bart walked down the street in the opposite direction and then the camera blurred again as he super speeded.

* * *

It took Chloe and Victor two days to dissect the retinal scan and create a program for the locks. AC had memorized the guards rotation by that point and they had a solid plan in place. Chloe was flipping through her mail while Oliver went over everything one more time. "AC and I are going to take the guards out. Chloe, you and Victor will open the doors, just go down the hall, one after the other while Bart goes in and gets what we might need. Wheels up in twenty." Chloe and Victor nodded and Chloe went back to her stack of mail. After a few bills and a credit card offer she saw a letter from Susan, which meant a letter from Cassandra. She opened it up and saw it was short, less than twenty five letters

"Anything important?" Oliver asked motioning to the sheet with the code on it.

"Nothing that can't wait." Chloe smiled setting it on the desk.

The butterflies in her stomach started on the plane and didn't dissipate, even when they were standing twenty yards away from the facility. "You sure you want to do this?" Oliver asked, his voice distorter on.

"More than anything." Chloe smiled and zipped up her hoodie, the makeshift uniform Oliver had put together at the last minute made her feel a little ridiculous but since everyone else was wearing them, it wasn't too bad.

Oliver pulled out his bow and aimed it at the side of the building. He waited until the three guards on his side were in range and then let the arrow go. They saw the gas escape and the guards collapse. "Impulse you're up." A red blur sped past Chloe. "They're changing shifts in five, four, three, two, one." The most efficient way to get into the building was the same way Bart had gotten in a few days before, slipping in after someone else.

"I'm in." Bart said. "Doors open."

"Watchtower, Cyborg." Oliver turned to them. "You're up."

Chloe nodded at Victor and they quietly made their way up to the building. She felt alive, she felt like she was doing something and she loved it. They slipped in the door. "We're in." Victor said. Bart was standing at the stairs with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Took you long enough." He smiled.

"We'll start on the second floor, that's where the lab is." Victor said.

"How do you know that?" Bart asked confused.

Chloe and Victor pointed up and Bart turned around. The largest room on the second floor overlooked the lobby area, with one wall made entirely of windows. Sure enough there were lab tables and medical equipment all over the place. "Oh." Bart bounced up the stairs and Chloe and Victor followed.

When they got to the lab, Chloe pulled the small computer out of her bag, hooking up various wires to the magnetic card/key pad device as Victor waited. She ran the program and it quickly found out the code. "You're up." She disconnected and Victor turned to the retinal scanner. They held their collective breaths until the green light beeped and the lock disengaged.

"Let's move." Chloe said as Bart went into the room and rummaged around for anything they might need. Oliver checked in frequently. A lot of the guards on the perimeter had been taken care of but it was a large building.

"Last one up here." Chloe said as the lock clicked open and she pushed on the door. Bart was still a few rooms down removing a lot of files. "Jackpot." Chloe smiled. Victor looked over her shoulder.

"Mainframe, nice." He started to go in the room and she shook her head.

"I need you to do the other doors." She nodded to the stairs. "I can't do the retinal scanner. And I think I know my way around the inside of the computer." He nodded and took her stuff from her, moving to the steps.

Chloe walked into the room and got to work on hacking the system. She was so engrossed in what she was doing she forgot for a second where she was and what was going on around her. "Hey!." She heard a very unfamiliar voice scream and she spun around. A guard was standing at the door. She quickly pulled her flash drive from the system and ran for the door. She managed to get around him and head down the hall.

"Watchtower to Green Arrow, I've got a situation." She said as she slid on the slick floor into the medical lab. "I've got a guard on my six, assistance requested."

"I'm busy out here, but I'm sending Aquaman you're way." He told her.

"I'm in the lab, second floor ." She said ducking behind a table as the guard came in the room looking for her. She tried to calm her breathing as she heard his shoes squeak across the floor, looking for her. Suddenly there was a noise followed by a thump. She peeked from behind the table and saw Bart standing there with a stool in one hand and the guard on the floor, unconscious.

"Hey." Bart smiled. "Probably the first time in your life you're happy to see me."

"Bart." Chloe breathed a sigh of relief as he set the stool down and pulled her to her feet. She smiled and was about to say something when suddenly her smile was gone and she shoved him as hard as she could to one side and turning herself to the other. Two more guards had entered the room. Apparently while Chloe had been calling for back- up so had the guard. One headed for Bart and the other took Chloe on. She found herself on one side of a lab table and the guard on the other, neither had anywhere to go. She grabbed one of the bottles and tossed the contents at him. Nothing happened.

"It's always acid or something equally as painful in the movies." She complained and he smiled so she threw the glass jar at him, catching him on the side of the head. "Where's Aquaman. We've got more guards now." Chloe said as she ran to the other side of the room while the guard was distracted.

"On my way Watchtower." AC's voice came over the com system. Bart didn't seem to be having any problems with his guard, literally running circles around him. Besides not being able to catch him Chloe wasn't sure what good it would do, maybe make him a little dizzy. She saw the look on his face though as he watched Bart go around and around. Before she could realize what it mean he'd grabbed a microscope off the table next to him and then Chloe saw it, it looked as if he was counting.

"Impulse." Chloe screamed but it was too late, the guard threw the microscope and it hit Bart square in the shoulder, knocking him off balance and definitely taking the speed out of him. Before Chloe could run to see if he was all right the guard grabbed him his hood and pulled him to his feet. He smiled sadistically before heaving with all his might and tossing Bart, as if he weighed no more than a feather, through the window that over looked the lobby. "No." Chloe screamed as the glass shattered and Bart fell straight down to the ground, unconscious.

She turned to the guards more angry than she ever thought she could be. "No more games." One guard told her. "Mr. Luther warned us some freaks like you might show up. We're authorized to do whatever we have to, to neutralize you."

"I swear to god, if he's hurt, if he's…"

"Dead?" The guard who threw Bart shrugged. "Not that bad a fall unfortunately."

"Watchtower." AC called from the hallway and Chloe knew something was going to happen before it did. Time seemed to slow down, her heart, raced faster and faster as the guards turned toward the door. AC appeared in the doorway, running at full speed and then he froze and fell backwards. Chloe looked from AC to the guards, they both had their guns out, she didn't even hear the shots. She ran forward screaming at the top of her lungs as blood started to pool on the floor. Both guards grabbed her before she got very far. They were pulling her to the door, she wasn't making it easy. She was pulling, kicking, screaming, she'd be biting if they'd get close enough to her but it was no use, their grip was iron. Suddenly one of them was knocked forward, he let go of Chloe and they both turned around confused when they saw the Arrow sticking out of his side. They followed the line it must have taken and saw Green Arrow standing on the other side of the landing, he'd shot it through the broken window. Chloe stomped on the foot of the remaining guard and he let her go just as another arrow was released. Chloe didn't even bother to see if it had landed, she knew it had.

She ran to the cabinet and flung the doors open, medical supplies went everywhere and she threw things left and right until she found gauze and few towels. She packed as many as she could on the wound and then turned as she saw another arrow fly past her head and heart a cable snap. She saw Oliver make his way over the lobby are and drop down in the room. "He was shot." Chloe said. "Impulse, he's hurt, he's on the ground."

"Cyborg's got him." Oliver said. "He's alive." He knelt down on the other side of Chloe.

"Here" She handed him a wad of gauze and then pushed his hand down on the wound to tell him to apply pressure. Her hands were covered in blood, her knees drenched. She pushed the hair out of her face and smeared blood all the way down her cheek.

"Chloe." Oliver said as the tears started to fall and she packed more gauze. "Chloe, can you…" Oliver didn't want to ask her, didn't like the price but he was afraid they'd have no other choice. "Can you heal it?"

Chloe looked up at him confused for a second as if she had no idea what he was talking about and then it dawned on her, she had the power to heal. She nodded whipping her tears away and laid her hands on AC's chest. Nothing happened at first and he saw her squeeze her eyes shut, her face turned red. A small, not very bright light pulsed a few times and then went out. Chloe collapsed on the floor and shook her head. "I still can't…they're still not working." She sobbed.

"They worked, a little, they stopped the bleeding." Oliver said moving the gauze away. "If we get him to a hospital."

"We can't do that." Chloe said. "A guy with two gunshot wounds shows up at a hospital the same day Lex's lab is broken into?"

"Right." Oliver said taking a deep breath and trying to calm down. "We'll take him back to the lab." Oliver said.

"He won't make it." Chloe said in a whisper.

"He will if we call in the express." Oliver said and pulled out his phone. "Clark." He said after a second. "I need you to get to my location as soon as possible, AC's been shot. I'll send you the address, second floor." Oliver disconnected without waiting for an answer and sent their location. They waited less than a minute and he was standing there next to them. "Get him to my lab in Star City, I'll call ahead so they know you're coming." Clark just nodded, paling at the sight of the blood on the floor and looked at Chloe.

"Chloe!" He said surprised.

"I'm fine, it's his blood." She said standing up shakily. "Hurry." Clark picked up AC's limp body and looked at the window.

"I saw Bart…"

"Victor says he's fine, we can take him back on the jet but AC doesn't have a lot of time." Oliver said and Clark nodded, super speeding out of the room.

"Chloe, we have to go." Oliver said grabbing her arm and dragging her down the stairs. Victor had created a makeshift gurney for Bart and Oliver grabbed one end and lifted him up, carrying him to the door.

"I'll go get the car." Chloe said running for the door for all she was worth and back down to the road where they'd parked. When she made it back to the lab they were waiting outside for her. They maneuvered Bart in the backseat and Oliver climbed in the driver's side as Chloe moved to the passenger's seat.

"Victor I need you stay here." Oliver told him. "His bloods all over the place in there, set the charges and blow the building. Get rid of any evidence."

Victor nodded and walked back in the building as Oliver sped off to the airport. He called ahead to the pilot and the plane was fueled and ready when they go there. They carefully transferred Bart on board and Chloe grabbed whatever she could find to help him. She cleaned the cuts from the glass as best she could and then took a few deep breaths and assessed his damage. "Broken arm." She said to Oliver. "Possibly leg too…definitely a concussion."

"We'll be there in forty five minutes." Oliver assured her. Chloe just nodded and spread her hands out over Bart's chest. But nothing happened. She didn't give up the whole plane ride home but she couldn't summon up anything, no lights, no healing, nothing.

A car met them at the airport and two men took Bart and sped off as another car came for Chloe and Oliver. The ten minutes to the lab was torture and Oliver didn't help by telling Chloe over and over again that everything would be all right. It wouldn't be all right, AC was shot, Bart had been thrown through a window, nothing would be all right."

They were out of the car before it even came to a complete stop and ran into the building. "Clark. " Chloe screamed. He turned around and looked at her, relief on his face. Oliver headed in the other direction to talk to the doctors. "Where's Bart?"

"There." Clark nodded and Chloe saw a team of people hooking him up to machines and checking his pulse and blood pressure. Chloe sagged with relief and stood watching as they assessed the damage. Twenty minutes later they moved him to a room and Chloe followed.

"How is he?" She asked the doctor.

"His vitals are good. A few broken bones but he's stable, heart rate steady, we're gonna get him situated then set the bones." The man smiled sadly at Chloe. "He's gonna be fine."

"What about AC?" Chloe asked.

"I don't know. Dr. Myers was handling that." He nodded at Clark and Chloe and went into the room with Bart.

Chloe stood with her hands pressed against the glass window, the steady beeping of the monitor was the only thing that was keeping her from completely freaking out. The doctors worked a slower pace now, the urgency gone as they prepared to set his wounds and wrap them in a cast. Oliver's voice brought her back to the present and she turned her head to see him consulting with Dr. Myers. She checked the monitors in Bart's room one more time before turning away to walk to Oliver.

"How is he?" She asked her voice breaking a little.

"He's gonna be fine." Oliver smiled sadly at her.

She nodded her head, finally able to take a breath and then as if she couldn't hold them back anymore the tears started to fall. Her legs gave away under the strain and Oliver grabbed her, supporting her as she cried for a good ten minutes. "It's ok, everyone is ok." He kept saying, trying to reassure her. But she knew that it wouldn't. She knew that this never should have happened, this was all her fault.

"No one is ok." Chloe cried. "This is all my fault."

"No." Oliver said forcefully. "You can't think like that, this had nothing to do with you."

"Nothing to do with me?" Chloe raised her voice. "Can you honestly look me in the eye and tell me that if I had been up at the apartment monitoring the building, the guards, this would have ever happened?" Oliver didn't say anything and Chloe lowered her head.

"This is not your fault." Oliver repeated a little less confidently now. "No one blames you for this, everyone is gonna be fine, everything is fine." He said trying to convince himself more than Chloe at this point.

"I'm going to change." She said after pulling herself together and stepping away from Oliver. She motioned to her blood stained clothes and hands. "Get washed up. Maybe grab a few things for Bart for when he wakes up."

"I think that's a good idea." Oliver smiled at her she reached up and kissed is cheek.

"See you later." She said softly and turned around and walked out of the lab.

* * *

When she got back to her apartment she showered and changed her clothes before heading over to her desk. She was pretty sure that she'd confiscated Bart's PSP and put it in there. That would keep him entertained for a while. She froze when she saw the letter from Cassandra on the table. She wasn't sure what made her do it but she pulled up the software she and Victor created and punched in the letters before digging through the drawers for the game. The printer started up and she pulled the game triumphantly from the bottom drawer. She grabbed the paper off the printer as she headed to her bookshelves. Bart would rather die of boredom before reading anything but it wouldn't hurt. She glanced down at the paper in her hands and stopped. There were only six words on there but they were drilling a pit in Chloe's stomach.

"Don't do it Chloe, you'll hurt them." All of the feelings of pain and blame came flooding back to her. Cassandra knew, knew Chloe shouldn't have gone, knew what would have happened, and it was her fault. As much as she wanted to help, as much as she wanted to do whatever it took to help the guys, she couldn't. She just didn't know enough and now this, and then the plan started forming. She packed as few things as possible in a small bag and ran to the computer; she'd have to be quick. Oliver would come looking for her if she was gone to long so she had to be thorough but fast. When she was finished on the computer she sat down and wrote the note that she'd been putting together in her head for the last hour.

She left the note on the counter and took one last look at her apartment before getting in the elevator and riding down to the lobby. It was late so getting a cab was relatively easy. "Airport." She said to the cabbie and dialed a number on her phone. "Hey." Chloe said smiling slightly when it was answered. "You remember that favor you owe me?" She asked. "I'm calling it in."

Chloe had been gone for two hours and Oliver was starting to get worried. AC was still in surgery, Bart's leg and arm had been put in a cast but he was still resting. He wanted Chloe there, he wanted her beside him, to reassure him that everything was going to be ok. She didn't even need to say anything, she just needed to be there. He'd admit for a second, when she said it out loud, he thought it was her fault too. But it wasn't and if he knew Chloe, which he was sure he did, she needed to be reassured of that, a lot. "I'm getting worried." Oliver said to Clark.

"She was really shook up, maybe she's just taking a moment." Clark offered.

Oliver nodded his head and sat back in his seat, trying to keep himself awake. He wanted Chloe.

Another two hours passed and Oliver was pacing now. "She should have been back…" He mumbled and pulled a set of keys out of his pocket. He tossed them to Clark. "Could you go check on her?"

"Sure." Clark caught the keys and walked out of the lab and the three blocks down to Chloe's building. He let himself into the elevator with Oliver's keys and then into Chloe's apartment. It was dark, all the lights were off. He searched every room and she wasn't there. He was about to call Oliver when he saw the note, lying on the desk top. Oliver's name was written in a rushed manner but the handwriting was definitely Chloe's. Lying next to it was another piece of paper, it had wet spots, tears most likely and Clark grabbed it and the note.

Oliver was not going to be happy about this. He walked back to the lab, trying to figure out what to say. He was beaming when Clark saw him and for a second he thought that maybe Chloe showed up after all. "AC's out of surgery, he's going to be fine."

"That's great." Clark managed a smile.

"Where's Chloe?" He looked behind Clark, as if he was hiding her and Clark held out the note and the piece of paper. He read the code translation first and a look of confusion passed over his face. Oliver's smile fell as he took the note and started to read it. Halfway through he had to sit down and by the time he was done, the smile was gone completely.

Two days later Oliver took a deep breath and walked into AC room, a fake smile plastered on his face. "How's it going?" He asked.

"Great." AC said smiling.

"Check out the new wheel's boss." Bart said from beside the bed in his wheelchair. "What do you think?"

"Styling." Oliver joked with him.

"Where's Chloe?" Victor asked, he'd gotten home the night before. "I thought for sure she'd be here doing the mom fussing thing, fluffing the pillows, getting you ice cubes or something."

AC frowned. "You know she hasn't come to see once."

Bart stopped playing with the wheelchair. "Me either." He realized.

"Guys." Oliver leaned against the window ledge and sighed. "Chloe's gone."

"What do you mean gone?" Bart said slowly. "Did the guards, was she shot too?"

"No, not gone, gone." Oliver back peddled. "She's fine, she didn't get shot, and she's fine." He said. "She left."

"Left?" Victor asked confused.

"Left, two days ago." He pulled the worn note out of his pocket and passed it over to AC. The once white paper was almost a grey color now because he kept pulling it out of his pocket to read it every five minutes as if making sure he wasn't going crazy.

"Oliver." AC read. "I know this is going to seem like, well I don't know what it's going to seem like. I don't know if you'll ever understand because I don't know that I fully understand it. I have to leave. What happened tonight was my fault and everyone knows it, even if no one will admit it. I wasn't ready to go out there with you guys, I wasn't prepared and it almost cost Bart and AC their lives. I don't know how long I'll be gone, I don't know where I'm going but I know that I have to be 100 positive that something like what happened tonight, will never, ever, happen again. I have to do something, I have to get my head screwed back on straight, figure out what's wrong with my powers, figure out a few other things. I don't know if you will hate me, or if, given time, you'll understand. I'll be back when I'm ready. I promise you that I will be back. Give the guys all my love, I'll miss all of you so much it hurts to try and put it into words. Love Chloe."

They all turned to Oliver for an explanation or a punch line but he didn't have either. "She left this too." He said. "We got a code from Cassandra, right before we left, she didn't decode it until after…" He handed the paper to Victor who read it and frowned before passing it off to the others. "I don't know where she is, I don't really understand why she left. But I'm going to find her. I'm going to bring her back." Oliver said with such conviction the others had no choice but to believe in him.

* * *

Three Years Later

Oliver checked the bags as the guy behind the counter handed them over. He looked through and was about to complain that they'd forgotten the Sesame Chicken then caught himself. Sesame Chicken was Chloe's dish, they didn't order any. Three years and he still had moment where he forgot she wasn't there anymore. Days when he picked up the phone to call her and then hung up quickly when he remembered. "Toss me an egg roll." Bart said. "Food for the road."

Oliver smiled and tossed him bag as they walked back to his apartment. "Ok so." Bart said taking half the egg roll in one bite. "We agreed that Victor is stronger than any of us, even AC in the water because his strength isn't his, it's the water."

"We never decided that." AC protested.

"Well, me and Victor decided." Bart smiled at him. "And we all know I'm faster." Bart said as if it was common knowledge to the world.

Oliver smiled. AC was gonna get frustrated in a minute and Bart would tease him worse for that. Victor would jump on whatever side he felt like it just to up the tension. If he tried to but in or mediate they'd just blow him off, but if Chloe were there all she'd have to do was give them one look, and they'd all shut up. He wanted Chloe. The feeling he'd had in his stomach, that ache that he knew was caused by her absence when he was waiting for her at the hospital, hadn't disappeared in three years, not for a single second. That was a good thing, because it pushed him on. He hadn't had any leads in a while but that wasn't going to stop him. He made a promise three years ago that he would find her and bring her back and Oliver Queen kept his promises. He had to bring her back, because he realized something very shortly after she left them. He didn't just want Chloe with him, he needed Chloe with him. They became so close, so connected that he had a hard time functioning when she wasn't around. He had no idea until she left how much he relied on her, and he wasn't just talking about JLA business, far from it. He needed to hear her voice on a long day, he needed to see her face, her smile when he got good news. He needed Chloe.

A/N: I know I'm horrible leaving it like this, but I'm having a few problems with the next chapter, hopefully it will be up by tomorrow! Enjoy


	14. Chapter 14

Three Years Later

Bart turned around as he left the elevator so that he was facing the guys coming in. "Seriously? I'm fast everywhere, you're only fast in water, stick your ass in the desert and let's see what you can do fish boy." He smirked at AC.

"Are you really still having this argument?" Chloe asked, standing nervously by the coffee table. Everyone froze at the sound of her voice and before they even fully realized that she was back and standing in the living room Bart super speeded over and hit her so hard they both fell back and landed on the sofa in a heap.

"Dog Pile." AC shouted running over and jumping on top of tem. Victor smiled at Oliver and joined in, causing them all to roll off and fall to the ground.

"Come on Ollie." Bart called somewhere from the middle. "Join in."

After he got over the shock, Oliver set the bags of take out on the kitchen counter and walked over, grabbing Bart by his shirt collar and pulling him up. "Come on guys, let her breathe." He smirked.

AC and Victor got up, a little ashamed at their childish antics but smiling none the less. That just left Chloe on the ground. Oliver smiled and held out his hand. He saw her hesitate before grabbing it allowing him to pull her up.

Chloe froze when Oliver held out his hand. Three years of pulling herself up made her hesitate for a second but she remembered the last thing that was said to her before she left. "I've taught you to be self sufficient. But you need to remember you're going back to a team, and it's ok to let them help once in a while." She held out her hand and Oliver pulled her up to her feet. She straightened her Jacket and dusted off her pants while Oliver just stood there staring at her. "Hey Chloe." He said smiling slightly.

"Hey." She smiled back at him and then they both just stood there. The others seemed to drift over to the kitchen and Oliver was trying desperately to think of something to say when Bart moaned.

"They forgot the Soy Sauce again." He said. "Be right back." Then he was gone. Oliver chuckled a little and smiled at Chloe.

"Hungry?" He asked.

Chloe opened her mouth ready to answer any of his questions about where she'd been, what she'd done but this was not the question she was ready for. She stumbled over nonsensical syllables before finally settling on, "No thanks, I'm good."

Oliver nodded and walked to the kitchen to eat. Chloe stood there completely confused. She'd been gone for three years and all he had to say to her was "Hungry?"

Victor walked in the room and grabbed her elbow. "Come on, you've got to tell us where you've been." He sat her down in a chair at the table and Bart's blur came swooping in the room.

"Wait for me; I don't want to miss this." Bart piled up his plate and sat down at the table waiting impatiently for her to answer the question. Chloe thought about it, that night she left and where she'd gone.

* * *

"_Airport." She said to the cabbie and dialed a number on her phone. "Hey." Chloe said smiling slightly when it was answered. "You remember that favor you owe me?" She asked. "I'm calling it in." _

_Ten hours later she was tired and hungry and emotionally drained as she stood on the stoop to Wayne Manor with her duffel bag and lap top case. She rang the doorbell and ran a hand through her hair. Alfred opened the door and smiled sadly at her. "Master Bruce is waiting for you." He grabbed her bag and led her to a small office on the ground floor. _

_Bruce was on the phone when she walked in. "I'll put some feelers out, see what comes up." Bruce raised an eyebrow at her and she sat down in the chair opposite him. _

"_Thanks." Oliver's voice, tight with worry came over the phone speaker. Chloe's face paled and she sat up a little straighter. "I don't understand why she…she just left and I…thanks Bruce." _

"_We'll find her." Bruce said soothingly to Oliver. "Don't worry; I'm sure she's fine. I've got to go, I'll call you later." He pushed a button and stared at Chloe as he sat down in his chair. She didn't say anything; she was waiting for him to speak first. "Oliver Queen is a very good friend of mine." Bruce said to her. "One of the best." She didn't say anything to that, what did you say to that. "And so are you." He assured her. She visibly relaxed. "I don't like lying to him though." _

"_I really appreciate…" Chloe started and he held up a hand. _

"_I understand why you're here." He smiled at her. "And I do owe you; I owe you far more than what you're asking of me." Bruce said and Chloe shook her head. "I'm happy to help you but I do have conditions."_

"_Hit me." Chloe said taking a deep breath._

"_You will do whatever I ask, when I ask, no questions, and no hesitations. You question me it's over, you hesitate it's over. I stop you go home, no second chances." Chloe nodded that she understood. "And you will not complain." He raised an eyebrow at her. "The things I will make you do are going to be hard, they are going to hurt, and they aren't going to get easier but you won't whine, you won't complain, and you won't cry." _

_Chloe took a deep breath. "Is that it?"_

"_And you'll contact Oliver; I don't care if you call him, e-mail, postcard or smoke signal." Bruce said. Chloe was about to protest when he cut her off. "I'm not saying you have to tell him about the Green Arrow, or the work you do for him, but you have to tell him something, he doesn't understand why you left, what's going on. He needs to know you're ok." _

_Chloe glared at him, Oliver understood far more than Bruce could ever know but Bruce was right, Oliver deserved an explanation. She nodded. "Deal." She said standing up and holding out her hand. Bruce stood up and shook hers. _

"_We start now." He said. "Alfred bring that to her room, Chloe come with me." _

_Chloe followed Bruce through the labyrinth that is the Wayne Manor and though this was not her first time being here, this time felt different, much different. She knew about Batman, but yet she was never privy to his areas of the house, the cave, the gym, all of that was separate from her relationship with Bruce. Not anymore. He opened a door to stairs going down and motioned for her to go first. She did as he indicated and headed down to a place that was not only dark it was damp and musky smelling. When her feet hit the ground she almost slipped. She looked down and realized she was standing on rocks. She waited for Bruce and he took the lead again, leading her through a series of caves. He turned a corner and Chloe finally saw the source of the sound of running water. There was an underground waterfall. "Stand here." He said motioning to a vaguely center point of the small cave. Chloe walked over and stood. "Arms out." She lifted her arms and shook her head as small spray hit her in the face from the waterfall. He turned the corner and came back holding a long stick. He placed it behind her head and draped her arms over it. Then he grabbed his belt and his tie and tied her wrists to the sticks, effectively locking them in that position. She didn't say a word through the whole process. He did something to the dirt surrounding her feet and then stood up and looked at her. _

"_You will stand here." He said. "You will not sit, you will not lean, you will stand in this spot, in this position and you will not move until I come get you." _

"_Yes sir." Chloe said smiling at him as he shook his head and walked away. _

_Two hours passed, Bruce came around the corner and looked at her. The top half of her body was completely wet from the mist off the water fall. Her knees twitched every now and then but he could tell she hadn't moved an inch, the dirt at her feet was undisturbed. He walked up and held out a canteen. "Drink." He said holding the bottle to her lips. She took a sip and swallowed. _

"_How you doing?" He asked. _

"_Peachy." She said a little weakly. _

"_You ready to quit?" He asked biting into an apple. She shook her head. He looked at her for a second before disappearing around the wall. He came back a minute later holding onto a large tangle of rope. He dropped it at her feet and looked at her. "Open." He said, she assumed he meant her mouth and opened. He turned the apple around to the green side with no bites taken out of it and put the apple in front of her. "Hold this, don't bite, don't chew, don't swallow, hold." She clamped her teeth on the apple and wanted nothing more than to take a huge bite out of it. He wrapped one rope around her left wrist then grabbed a large rock tying it to the bottom; the weight immediately pulled her to the left. He smiled then took the other rope and did the same to her right wrist. She evened out. _

_He looked at her one last time and then walked back around the corner. Chloe listened as his footsteps went farther and farther away. _

_Four more hours passed and Bruce stood in the darkness provided by the cave's entrance and watched her. She hadn't moved from the spot he put her in. Her legs were visibly shaking with the strain now, she was completely soaked from the water and he could see tears in her eyes that she wasn't going to let fall. He had to give it to her, she was one tough girl. He walked into the open and her eyes adjusted on him. He pulled the apple out of her mouth and he heard her jaw pop as she closed it. He studied the apple; aside from the small indents where her teeth were holding it she hadn't bitten. He threw the apple over his shoulder and undid the weights. When both rocks were freed from her she fell to the ground in a heap. He reached down to help her but she pushed him away, standing up on her own shaky legs with her hands still outstretched beside her. She looked defiantly at him as she stood up as straight as she could. He undid the tie and the belt and threw the stick down. _

"_Come on." He said walking away. She followed slowly behind him, her legs not used to movement, her muscles cramped in place. "Eat, shower, sleep." He said when they got into the house proper. "Tomorrow's gonna be a hell of a day." He walked away shaking his head as she stood there shivering in the hallway. Alfred stepped forward and motioned for her to follow him. He brought her up the stairs to her room and when she opened the door there was a tray of food set up on the small table and clothes laid out on her bed. _

"_Miss Sullivan." Alfred said. "I took the liberty…" He walked to the bathroom and opened the door and Chloe almost fell to her knees and thanked God for hot baths. Only when she got in the bathroom the tub wasn't filled with steamy soapy water, it was filled with ice. She turned to Alfred confused. _

"_You're muscles will thank me in the morning." He said walking out of the room. Chloe sighed and decided to eat, freeze, then sleep. _

* * *

For some reason she couldn't say it, maybe because they didn't know who Batman was and it would be like betraying his secret, maybe because she wasn't really ready to explain the intricacies of her trip yet. "Chloe?" Victor asked concerned and she refocused her attention on them and made up a vague story about training. They obviously weren't really interested in her answer because they kept interrupting her to ask more questions or to tell her what they'd been doing. It would have been a fun homecoming except for the fact that Oliver was standing at the kitchen counter eating and staring, at her, the whole time.

After exhausting all stories they had to tell her, one by one they drifted off to do their own thing, or go to bed and Chloe found herself alone in the living room. She wasn't sure what to do, if she should even be there so she grabbed up all the empty cartons and coke cans and threw them away. Then it was quiet and clean and she had to get some fresh air before she screamed. She walked out to the balcony and sighed in relief as she took a deep breath.

Since the moment the guys had walked in she'd been crawling around in her own skin, worrying about something that she couldn't put her finger on. No that's not true, she could put her finger on it, it was Oliver. He hadn't said anything to her after "Hungry." She wanted to kick herself. She was finally the person she knew she was supposed to be, and even with the whole skin crawling thing, she knew without a doubt that she was where she was meant to be. But did Oliver even want her here? She could understand if he didn't. She left with no warning for three years, and then just shows up out of the blue. She groaned and could practically hear Bruce's voice in her head.

"Calm yourself, mindful breath." Was echoing over and over.

Chloe ground her teeth and took a deep breath. "Leave me alone." She said out loud trying to drown out Bruce's voice.

"I'm sorry, I just…" Oliver said from the doorway to the balcony and Chloe spun around as he turned to go inside.

"I'm sorry." She sighed. "I wasn't talking to you…I was…talking…" She trailed off staring straight ahead at Oliver almost in a daze.

"Chloe." Oliver said walking forward. "Chloe." He said a little louder.

Her gaze didn't waver from his hands but her mouth did open slightly. "Is that…I'm…is that…coffee?" She said in almost a whisper.

"Yeah." Oliver smiled. "That ridiculously expensive Indonesian stuff you were always bugging me for."

"Kopi Luwak?" Chloe asked almost drooling down her shirt.

"I bought it after you left…" He trailed off. He stepped forward and Chloe instinctively took a step back. "You haven't had a cup since you got here, so I figured you would want some. I'm sorry." Oliver frowned.

"No." Chloe practically screamed as he turned to go inside. "No I…it's just, I haven't had a cup of coffee since, since I left. It was part of my training."

Oliver's eyebrows rose and he smiled at her. "You haven't had a cup of coffee in a year and half?" Chloe shook her head as he smiled larger. "So you'd probably do just about anything for this wouldn't you?" He waved the coffee closer to her and she inhaled the aroma closing her eyes in pleasure.

"Yes." She practically moaned.

Oliver set the coffee on the table and smiled at her. "Good. I need you to promise me something."

"Anything." Chloe said staring at the cups on the table.

"Chloe." Oliver snapped. "Focus." She turned to look at him. "Promise or no coffee."

"Ok." She said smiling slightly.

"Never, ever leave me; leave us, like that again." He said his smirk gone, his face completely serious.

She stopped confused almost. "You mean you still want me here?" She smiled a little bigger.

"Of course we still want you here." Oliver sighed. "I was going crazy without you. Do you think I can handle those guys on my own? As for intelligent conversation forget about it. Let's not even bring up the fact that the testosterone level got so high at one point we were this close to taking a swing at each other…" He was cut off when Chloe launched herself into him, hugging him tight.

Oliver sighed and brought his arms around her, holding onto her as hard as she was holding on to him. "I went crazy when you left." He whispered in her ear. "You have no idea how worried I was that I'd never see you again. I drove Bart to exhaustion scouring the globe for you. This place hasn't been the same, it's like we've been missing something." He pulled back slightly to look at her and saw tears shining in her eyes.

"I missed you guys so much." She said the tears starting to fall. "I was so worried that you wouldn't want me to come back."

"Not want you?" Oliver chuckled. "Are you kidding me, you're a part of the team Chloe, we always want you here." He hugged her again, a little tighter this time. "I always want you here." Chloe pulled away to pull herself together and wipe her eyes. She reached for the coffee on the table and Oliver grabbed her hand.

"Promise me Chloe." Oliver said, serious again. "If you feel you need to go somewhere, do something, we'll support you one hundred percent but don't take off like that again."

"Promise." Chloe smiled and grabbed her coffee cup. Oliver took his and watched Chloe bask in the aroma before taking a tentative sip. He smiled as her eyes closed and she savored the flavor, swallowing slowly with another moan. Oliver took a sip of his and was pleasantly surprised.

"This is really good." He said. "I'm not sure it's worth $160.00 a pound, but it's good." He took another sip. "Why is it so expensive?" He asked taking another sip.

"Well they don't pick the coffee beans from the tree, there's this animal, a Civet, it eats the beans and then they collect them after it's…passed through the animal."

Oliver froze his mouth full of coffee. He turned and spit it out on the balcony as Chloe took another delicious sip. "You mean the beans came from animal crap?" He said looking at the cup, his face turning white.

"Yeah." Chloe said smirking at him. "The trip through its intestines takes out the bitterness and pulls out the flavors of the coffee." Oliver set his cup down on the table and took a step back from it. Chloe laughed.

"So I paid $800.00 for crap?" Oliver smirked at her.

"To each his own." Chloe smiled finishing her cup and gesturing to Oliver's. "You gonna finish that?"

"God no." Oliver said shaking his head as Chloe snatched up his cup and took a sip.

* * *

Chloe woke up the next morning and forgot just for a minute where she was until she heard noises in the living room and realized she was back home and she could hear the boys in the kitchen. She got out of bed and frowned as she walked down the hall listening to them argue. "Stop." Victor said. "Just don't touch anything ok."

"I can cook some stuff." Bart said.

"You burned the butter." AC pointed out.

"Can I make the toast?" Bart asked.

"Yes you can make the toast." Victor said.

"What are you doing?" Chloe asked watching them all freeze in place. Victor was at the stove stirring something on the stove as AC cut up fruit and Bart had his hand in bread bag.

"Making you breakfast." Bart said lamely.

"You don't have to do this." Chloe said.

"We know." Victor smiled. "But you just got back; you need to relax a little."

She ignored him and walked over to the stove and tried to help out but every time she grabbed something one of them took it away from her until finally Oliver walked in the apartment and he was given the task of keeping her out of the kitchen.

Chloe smiled. Her first day back wouldn't be as hard as her first day at Bruce's that was for sure.

_Her first real day at Bruce's she woke up stiffer than she'd ever been in her life, but stiff was better than sore. She opened the closet looking for her things but they weren't there, the dresser was filled with nothing but yoga pants and tank tops, Chloe deduced that this was to be her uniform. She grabbed a pair and pulled them on, walking slowly but determinedly down to breakfast. When she got there Bruce was lounging in a chair reading the paper. "Morning." He said to her. _

"_Morning." She smiled back slowly grabbing a cup and moving to the coffee pot._

"_No coffee." He said casually flipping the pages in his paper. Chloe froze and set the cup down without question or hesitation. Alfred handed her a glass of orange juice. "Don't eat." He said folding the paper up. "We're going for a run." He stood up. "Finish your juice and stretch; meet me out front in five minutes." He walked out of the room leaving a full plate of eggs and bacon and Chloe groaned. She downed her juice, knowing that the more time she had to stretch the better off she'd be. _

_After two miles Bruce ran up the driveway in high spirits smiling as Alfred handed him a towel and bottle of water. "Miss Sullivan?" He asked. _

"_She's coming." Bruce said catching his breath. "She fell a little behind." _

_Thirty minutes later Chloe came jogging up the driveway and Alfred handed her a water bottle and towel also. "You missed breakfast, shower and meet me in my office." Bruce said walking in the house. Chloe waited until the door was closed and she fell to the ground in the driveway. Alfred smiled at her and helped her up into the house. She showered, put on an identical pair of yoga pants and tank top then walked into Bruce's office. He was on the phone and the computer presumably doing actual Wayne Enterprise work. He held his hand over the phone and said. "Sit." She went for the chair and he shook his head. "Floor." Was all he said. _

_Chloe lowered herself onto the floor, so painfully she wondered if she'd be able to get up. He went back to his work and Chloe sat on the floor in his office for an hour as he called investors and checked his e-mail. His assistant came in a few times to hand him papers or folders and paid no attention to the girl sitting in the middle of the floor. For the first thirty minutes Chloe was tensed, ready to get up and do something as soon as he asked, after the first thirty minutes she started to let her mind wander, being the head of a multi-billion dollar company was boring. Suddenly she was hit in the head with something heavy. She looked around the floor beside her, resisting the urge to rub her head. She saw a stapler on the floor. She looked up at Bruce. He was sitting behind his desk with an amused expression on his face. _

"_Did you just throw a stapler at me?" She asked, hoping that didn't qualify as questioning him. _

"_You weren't sitting." He said. She looked around the floor. She was sitting as far as she could tell, she hadn't gotten up. _

"_Ok." She said confused but trying to figure out a way to figure out what she was doing without questioning him. _

"_You need to learn how to sit." He said. _

"_You mean I've been doing it wrong my whole life?" She snarked at him. "How embarrassing." _

_He glared at her and stood up. "When you sit, sit." He said to her. "When you run, run, when you eat, eat." _

"_Ok." She said as he circled her. "Are you going all Zen on me?" _

"_Yes." He said hitting her on the head with his hand that time. "Now sit." _

"_Sit." Chloe said sitting. This was ridiculous, she was learning how to sit. Every now and then as she felt her mind wander something would hit her in the head, something from Bruce's desk. She finally understood after the phone headed toward her and she moved her head not to get hit. He smiled. "Stand up. Eat lunch have Alfred bring you to the gym." He said retrieving the phone and making a call. He was keeping her in the moment, keeping her alert, it wasn't completely pointless, it just felt like it was. Much to her annoyance she had a feeling that the Zen stuff was going to keep popping up, the pitfalls of training with a man who trained with a bunch of Monks._

_She ate her lunch and Alfred brought her to the gym. "Master Bruce has instructed me to set up a weight training and exercise course with you." He said. "You will do the weights three times and week and the other four times a week, unless Master Bruce says otherwise." _

"_Alfred." Chloe said as he led her to a machine and explained the workings of it. She started her sets. _

"_Yes Miss Sullivan." _

"_Can you call me Chloe?" She asked grunting._

"_I have that ability yes." He said spotting her. _

"_Will you call me Chloe?" She smiled at him._

"_Probably not Miss Sullivan." He smiled at her. "Ten more." She nodded and continued her workout. _

_When she was done, her legs ached, her arms ached, and her chest ached. She wanted to sit in another bathtub full of ice, she wanted to sleep for three days, she wanted to do anything except what she was about to do. Bruce walked in as she was wiping her forehead and drinking some water. "Come here." He called to her and led her to a pad in the middle of the room. She walked onto the pad and before she could wonder what was going to happen he knocked her feet out from under her sending her sprawling on the ground. _

_She glared at him and pulled herself up. "Never let your guard down." He said to her and with that her martial arts training had begun. He didn't take the approach Chloe would have thought for martial arts training, he didn't go through movements or steps, he attacked she defended, he told her what she was doing wrong and then attacked again. Three hours later when she was pulled up by him for the hundredth time she just knew that she would be full of bruises on every possible inch of her body. _

"_Shower." He said. _

The memory ended and it seemed as if everyone was staring at her. "What?" She asked cautiously.

"I said, why don't we go sit on the balcony?" Oliver smiled.

"Yeah, sure." Chloe followed him outside and they sat down, taking in the early morning view of Star City. "Remember that thing you made me promise last night?" Chloe asked him.

"About never leaving us again?" He smiled. "Yeah I think I remember that."

"I kind of have to." Chloe said sheepishly. "But just to go to England. Do you remember Tony Miller?"

"Your Uncle's Finance guy?" Oliver asked.

"Yes, him, when I was gone, I put him in charge of the company in my absence, but in my rush, I missed something, some paperwork, something official and if I don't show up at Global Communications in two days, Jefferson Pliers is going to sell my company off bit by bit."

"Can he do that?" Oliver asked.

"Edward made him CEO when he found out he wasn't going to be able to work so much, so whatever I messed up when I tried to put Tony in charge, put Jefferson in charge."

"You've got to save your company." Oliver said. "I understand that. You promise to come back?"

"I should be there for a few weeks only." Chloe assured him. "Just long enough to put everything back together and put the people I want, where I want them. Then I'll have to deal with whatever mess the American Branch has gotten itself into before I get back to work."

"So you're staying here?" Oliver asked.

"Of course." Chloe said confused.

"I just thought, with Edward gone, and you running the company…"

"I can run the company from where ever I want to, and I want to run it from Star City." Chloe assured him. He smiled and the doors burst open.

"Breakfast." AC set down a bowl of fruit and five plates while Victor and Bart followed with eggs, bacon, toast, biscuits and sausage.

"Dig in fast." Oliver said reaching over to grab a plate. "I think Bart has tripled his intake since you left."

"I have not." Bart said and then had the decency to look sheepish as he noticed the mammoth pile of bacon on his plate. "I had to go to Ecuador yesterday ok."

Chloe laughed with everyone else and thought to herself that maybe things could get back to normal. A fight was started over who would do the dishes as Chloe showered and changed and packed a bag. She had to make a note to go shopping; much of her clothes didn't fit anymore having lost a little weight and gained a lot of muscle. She carried the bag out to the living room as she dialed the number for the airport. Bart, Victor, and AC were gone, her kitchen was spotless which was mildly surprising, but even more surprising was the fact that Oliver was standing by her elevator on the phone, with an overnight bag in his hand. He closed the phone and smiled at her. "I've got my jet waiting at the airport." He reached out for her bag and she looked at him strangely.

"What's going on?" She hung up her phone.

"I'm going with you." He smiled.

"You don't trust me to come back?" She joked with him.

"No." He scoffed at her. "I know that this is the first time you've been back there since, well since Edward died. I thought you might like the company."

"Thanks." Chloe smiled. "I'd really appreciate that."

"Besides, I really missed you Chloe." Oliver smiled at her and grabbed her arm.

"I missed you to." She reminded him. "And I'm really glad you're coming with me."

* * *

The plane ride out there seemed to be the salve to the wound that was Chloe's three year absence. She knew that the guys really had no hard feelings, they really were just happy to have her back. She also knew that Oliver really was hurt by what she'd done and that was by no means her intention in doing it. She was doing what she thought was best. He wouldn't talk about it though, choosing to change the subject whenever she brought it up and though she knew eventually it would have to come out, the twelve hour flight was spent drinking coffee and talking made her feel close to him again. It erased the time they'd missed, Oliver filling Chloe in on practically every single thing he'd done while she was gone and Chloe, not able to do the same, listened to everything he had to say .

Then she asked if he knew how Abby was, and Lily and Rose. "I've talked to them, not a lot but some." He said. "Do you know what you're going to say to them? To everyone?"

"Yeah." Chloe nodded. "I'm going to tell them I was in Buenos Aires." Chloe said and look of recognition flittered over Oliver's face. "I set it up after I'd been gone a few weeks so that I'd have something, a story to tell."

He remembered. About a month after she'd been gone there was a report in some gossip magazine that she was staying at her Uncle's house in Buenos Aires. Hiding out on the beach and grieving quietly. The report said that she never went outside, but glimpses had been caught from the beach of a sad face in the window. He normally wouldn't have paid any attention to that magazine but he was desperate so he checked it out. The house that normally sat vacant, run by a skeleton staff, especially at that time of year was now busy. There was talk in the town that the full time staff was being employed and supplies, food and other things were being ordered weekly and sent to the house.

He went to check it out, the house manager Pilar knew him, and they'd stayed there for a week about a year previously. She told him that Chloe was there, that she was obviously very heartbroken over the loss of her Uncle and would not be accepting any visitors; she refused to let him in. He came back twice a day for a week and still they refused.

"I remember." Oliver said sheepishly.

"I'm sure you do." Chloe chuckled thinking about it.

"_Miss Chloe, I don't think he's going away." Pilar explained over the phone. "Every day I tell him you are fine, you are tired, that he could leave a note, or write you a letter but every day he comes back." _

"_I know, I'm going to call him, I'm going to explain it all I just, I guess I need to work up the courage." Chloe said. "I'm really sorry." _

"_It's ok Miss Chloe." Pilar said gently. "It is no problem here, the people now have a steady job and Maria does not mind pretending to be you and looking out the window. She says it is fun, like acting." _

_Chloe sighed. Maria was the employee in Buenos Aires that Chloe had with blonde hair so she was drafted to be the image that was caught on film by the paparazzi through the sheer curtains in the master bedroom. "I really appreciate everything that you guys are doing, I can't thank you enough." _

"_It is no problem Miss Chloe, it is our job." Pilar assured her. Suddenly there was a scream from the back of the house._

"_Is everything ok? " Chloe asked and Pilar rushed through the living are to the kitchen to see Maria and a few of the other maids running away. "What's going on?" _

"_Aye Dios Mio." Pilar said in the phone, her voice shaking. "There is someone in the house, he's broken in, he is in some strange clothing…" _

"_Where is she?" Chloe heard a very familiar, very mechanical voice over the phone and sighed, courage or not she was going to have this conversation now. _

"_Is he in all Green?" Chloe asked. "With a hood and sunglasses on?"_

"_Si." Pilar said. _

"_Carrying a bow and arrow?" _

_  
"Si, Senora, do you know this man?" Pilar asked with interest._

"_Hand him the phone." Chloe said. "You can tell him who it is." _

"_Senor." Pilar took a shake step forward and Green Arrow took his eyes of the kitchen staff, who took the opportunity to run away, and looked at her. "The phone." He looked confused. "It is Miss Chloe. She says to give you the phone." _

_He reached out a hand and Pilar dropped the phone in it before turning and running away. "Oliver?" Chloe's voice came out of the speaker and he put the phone up to his ear. "Is that you?"_

"_Chloe?" He said then switched off his voice distorter. "Chloe?" _

"_Yeah." She said quietly. "It's me." _

_  
"Where are you? What's going on? Why did you leave?" He asked frantically. _

"_I'm not in Buenos Aires, but I want people to think I am ok, so please don't blow my cover." She sounded tired and Oliver backed down a little. _

"_Where are you?" He pleaded with her. _

"_I can't tell you that." She said. "I don't want you to come looking for me. I'm fine, I'm safe." _

"_I don't understand." He sagged against the countertop, all the fight gone out of him. _

"_I know you don't, I think I'm just now starting to…I can't really explain it yet but I had to leave." _

"_You had to leave?" Oliver asked. "Disappear?" _

"_It was best." Chloe said. "Ok, that's a lie, it was easiest. I couldn't face you, couldn't face the guys. If I had just been quicker, been better…" _

"_Chloe, don't do this, do not blame yourself for what happened to them." Oliver said. _

"_I had been at the Penthouse, on the computer that night; neither of them would have gotten hurt. You know that's true Oliver, you can't deny it." _

'"_They're fine, both of them, we're all fine, come back."_

"_I will." Chloe promised him. "I swear to you that I will come back but not now, not even soon." _

_  
"When?" Oliver asked. _

_  
"When I'm ready." Chloe said. _

"_What does that mean?"_

"_It means I need to do something, it means I need to change." Chloe sighed. "I spent all those years with Edward, learning, changing so that I could become Chloe Sullivan. Well now I have to do that again, I have so many things that I need to learn, so many things that I need to do to become Watchtower and I can't come back until I'm finished."_

"_You can do them here." Oliver said, still not fully understanding. "We can do them together." _

"_No we can't Oliver." Chloe sighed. "I am sorry for what I put you trough, and I swear when I'm ready I'll come back." _

"_I guess that's the best I'm going to get isn't it?" He asked after a moment of silence._

"_That's the best I can give you right now." Chloe told him. "Did you break into my house as Green Arrow and terrorize my staff?" _

"_Oh God." Oliver sighed. "I can't believe, I'm so sorry about that." _

"_It's fine." Chloe said to him. "Don't worry about it. But don't break my cover ok; let the world think that Chloe Sullivan is crying alone in Buenos Aires." _

"_Ok." Oliver said. "Just make sure you come back to me." _

"_I will." She assured him then hung up the phone. _

"Pilar was scared out of her mind." Chloe said. "I called her the next day and she said that if the giant green man was planning on coming back then she quit."

"I kind of lost it for a second." Oliver said. "I didn't even realize what I'd done until I'd done it. But you came back."

"I promised." She reminded him. "No matter what happens." She said. "I'll always come back."

"With cake?" He smiled.

"With cake." She nodded and he laughed.

* * *

Chloe watched as the car pulled up in the familiar driveway and took a deep breath. Ms. Reynolds was standing at the door and Chloe had to prepare herself for the possibility that she was about to get the tongue lashing of a lifetime. Instead she got pulled into a hug. "Don't you ever disappear like that young lady." Ms. Reynolds said sternly but tenderly in her ear.

"Promise." Chloe said hugging the old woman back. They pulled apart and her demeanor changed abruptly.

"Mr. Queen." She said stiffly. "I didn't realize you'd be accompanying Ms. Sullivan."

"Hey, she disappeared for three years on me, you think I'm gonna let her go anywhere without me?" Oliver said.

Ms. Reynolds looked at him critically for a second and then snapped her fingers. "Alexa, please make a quest room ready for Mr. Queen. Perhaps the number 23." Chloe seemed confused, she knew the house and security staff numbered every room in the house and at one point in time she had known what all of them were but she'd been gone so long that she wasn't sure anymore. But obviously Ms. Reynolds had a reason for room 23.

"Yes mum." Alexa nodded and Ms. Reynolds gave Oliver a cold stare and then turned and walked away.

"Ok." Oliver looked at Chloe. "I could handle it when she hated both of us – but now she only hates me."

"She doesn't hate you." Chloe said as Simon grabbed her bags and smiled at her and they made their way to Chloe's room. Oliver raised his eyebrows. "She doesn't."

"She does." Simon interrupted. Oliver smirked and then frowned.

"She does?"

Simon laughed as Chloe opened her bedroom door. "She used to tell us to watch your bedroom door when you visited."

"My door?" Oliver said confused.

"At night." Simon dropped Chloe's bag on the ground. "To make sure you don't sneak into Chloe's room." Simon was completely serious and Chloe tried hard not to laugh.

"So this is what she thinks of me? That I'm some horny kid?" Oliver scoffed.

There was what sounded like a squeaky laugh behind him and he turned around to se Alexa standing there. "Your room is ready Mr. Queen."

Chloe was having a hard time hiding her laughter as Alexa took him past one room and then another and then another until he turned the corner and sent a look at Chloe as if Alexa was leading him down into the catacombs. As soon as they both turned the corner Chloe and Simon let it all out. "Where is room 23 again?" Chloe asked.

"The East Wing." Simon said.

Chloe laughed even harder, that was on the other side of the house, and he'd have to pass Ms. Reynolds room every time he left it. Simon held a finger to his ear and nodded. "Ms. Reynolds wants to see you in her office when you're settled."

Chloe nodded and walked to the stairs. "If Oliver ever finds his way out of the East Wing, tell him I'll meet him for diner."

"Of course." Simon said. "Miss Chloe." She paused at the top of the stairs. "It's good to have you home."

"It's good to be home." She smiled at him.

Ms. Reynolds wanted to go over all of the house management stuff that Edward used to deal with. She hadn't really considered the fact that she was the owner now. "Just do whatever my Uncle did." Chloe said.

Ms. Reynolds looked at her for a second then nodded. "Yes, of course."

Chloe paused and titled her head. "Unless you think there's a better way."

"You're Uncle ran this house just fine." She bristled.

"No of course he did." Chloe said. "I just mean, if you have any ideas."

"Well." She thought for a second. "Now that you mention it." She turned around and pulled out a binder, a very large binder. "Over the years I may have accumulated a few ideas."

"A few?" Chloe looked at the pages and pages in the binder. "Lay 'em on me." She said.

Two hours later Ms. Reynolds was still explaining the different way to fold towels. "Look, I don't know the first thing about running a house and you've been doing it for a long enough time that I think you know what you're doing so how about this? Whatever you see fit to do – do. It's you're call."

Ms. Reynolds smiled. "Yes Miss Chloe." She smiled. "It's late, you should get something to eat."

"Ms. R." Chloe smiled. "Could you ease up on Oliver? He's not trying to get in my pants."

"He's a man sweetie, of course he is." Ms. Reynolds patted her shoulder condescendingly.

"Can you trust me then?" Chloe asked.

"With that smile he's got?" She laughed. "I don't think so dear."

Chloe walked into the kitchen to find Oliver talking with Raymond. "Chloe." He stood up straight and held his arms out. "It's been so long." She hugged him. "I hope you're hungry."

"Honestly if there was on thing in the world that I missed more than Oliver, it was your food. But it's late and I don't think I could handle a five course meal." Chloe smiled.

"Got good old fish and chips." He said.

"Perfect." Chloe moaned just thinking about it. "When are you gonna marry me?"

"Hey." Oliver protested.

"Can you make a perfectly cooked seared scallop with a citrus marmalade and endive salad?" Chloe asked.

"Well, no." Oliver said.

"Do you have any idea how to make a wild mushroom risotto that keeps me awake at night?" Chloe asked.

"No." Oliver said.

"Can you even begin to imagine how to create a lobster poached in beurre blanc with cauliflower crème anglaise that I crave on such a visceral level that when I finally get to taste it, it's like a explosion of ecstasy in my mouth?" Chloe groaned.

"No." Oliver said a little hoarsely.

"I can do that?" Raymond asked confused.

"No." Chloe shook her head and smiled. "Sorry, that was Eric Ripert. God I haven't been to La Bernardin in ages." She smiled. "I'm gonna wash up for dinner."

"I need to take a cooking class." Oliver said watching her leave.

Chloe couldn't help but remember the story Bruce told her about what happened to his company when he left. But this was different. His stock holders just wanted to make Wayne Enterprises public. But Chloe's were selling off pieces of the company to the highest bidder, all her magazines, all her newspapers, they were splitting it all up and she couldn't let that happen. She wouldn't let Edward down like that. It had been so long since she'd been in the building but it was as if she never left, and she was going to make sure that everyone else felt that way too.

When she got home a few hours later Oliver was waiting for her outside the front door. "Hey." Oliver smiled as she walked in the house. "How'd it go?"

"Fine." Chloe smiled. "I am back in control, Tony is the head of the European branch and everything is in good enough hands for me to go back to Star City."

"Well, there is one thing you have to do first." Oliver lead her over to the sun room and Chloe stopped, Abby, Lily, and Rose were sitting there and as soon as she walked in they turned around to stare at her. "I'll just leave you alone." Oliver said backing out of the doorway slowly.

She wasn't sure what to do, what to say so she just stood there, staring into the room, her whole mind a blank. "Oh My God." Lily said. "It's true." She ran up and squealed, hugging onto Chloe so tight that she finally relaxed. Rose was next, squealing and hugging and when they pulled apart Abby was standing there smiling sadly at her. She ran forward and hugged her tight. She didn't squeal, she didn't jump up and down, she just hugged Chloe like if she let go, Chloe would disappear again.

"I missed you so much." Abby said to her.

"I'm sorry." Chloe could feel tears coming to her eyes.

Abby pulled back and took a deep breath before smiling. "So tell us everything."

Chloe gave them the fake version, the Buenos Aires version. Then she made sure to steer the conversation in their direction. A lot had changed since she'd been back. Lily and Rose had taken over as Editors in Chief of Posh Magazine; now one of Chloe's highest selling ones. Abby had actually gone back to school; she was working on a graduate degree in Social Science. "Wow I missed so much." Chloe said smiling at the thought of how much they'd all grown.

"You haven't heard the biggest news yet." Lily said.

"Go on, tell her, you know you've been dying to since she got here." Abby smiled.

"I'm engaged." Rose took her hand from behind her back and Chloe was amazed she didn't notice the behemoth of a diamond beforehand.

"Oh my God." Chloe smiled. "To who?" She couldn't remember if Rose was dating anyone seriously but then again it had been three years.

"Jason." Rose said.

"Jason?" Chloe asked confused. "Jason Parker? Spencer's friend?"

"Yeah." Rose smiled nodding. "We bumped into each other about a year and a half ago, then had coffee to catch up and then…well we're getting married next year. I need a long engagement if I hope to have a halfway decent wedding."

"That's great." Chloe hugged her. "I'm so happy for you."

"Well I was wondering." Rose said. "Obviously Lily is my Maid of honor but I was hoping you'd be a bridesmaid."

Chloe felt the tears again. "Of course." She said. "I'd be honored."

"Oh this is so perfect." Rose smiled happily. "I'm just so glad your back."

"You know the rules though." Abby said. "We get final approval on the dresses. We will not have our pictures taken for the society pages with any color that could be described as Pastel or a butt bow and poofy sleeves."

"Do you honestly think I could do that to you guys?" Rose asked.

"Yes." Abby said. "I think you'd do it with pleasure and relish in our misery."

Rose thought for a second. "Yeah ok, that does kind of sound like me."

They talked for a little while more but Rose and Lily had to get back to work. Abby and Chloe went outside for a walk around the garden. "So I see Oliver came back with you." Abby said.

"Yeah." Chloe smiled.

"You and he are ok?" Abby said. "Cause you didn't just leave us, you left him too."

"We've talked, a lot." Chloe assured her. "I think we're in a good place."

"Good." Abby seemed relieved. "Because, and I will never repeat this, especially not to Oliver, but you guys are like the perfect fit you know and if anything happened, if you guys couldn't make it. I'd probably lose all hope in love."

"Well." Chloe said slowly. "That's a lot of pressure to put on a girl." Chloe laughed.

"I know." Abby said. "I'm hoping it'll keep you from pulling a stunt like that again." She stopped and turned to Chloe. "You know, the day you guys met, at Oliver's party, I warned Oliver not to break your heart, I never thought I'd have to warn you not to break his."

"I never meant to hurt him." Chloe said. "He knows that."

"Yeah because he's smarter than I give him credit for." Abby smiled. "But you know, don't do it again."

"I've already promised him, no more running off." Chloe said.

"Good." Abby sighed and slipped her arm in Chloe's. "Because ever since Rose got engaged that's all she talks about and of course that means it's all Lily talks about and I would really love to have one sane friend again."

* * *

Abby left a little while later and Chloe and Oliver called it an early night, they were leaving early the next morning. By the time they finally got back to Chloe's apartment she wanted nothing more than to take a hot bath and sink into her bed. What she didn't want was to get slapped in the face before she even got off the elevator. She grabbed her cheek and looked up to see Lois standing there with an angry expression on her face.

Suddenly she launched herself at Chloe and hugged her for all she was worth. "I missed you so much." She said.

"I could tell." Chloe smiled. "By the handprint on my face."

Lois pulled back. "I'll give you another one." She warned, but she did it with a smile. Lois stepped aside and standing next to her was Clark.

"Hey Chloe." He smiled at her and they both ran to each other. Clark gave Chloe a crushing hug, only with Clark that was more a literal thing.

"I can't breathe." She told him and he smiled sheepishly as he pulled away.

"I'll give you two some time alone, seeing as how he's going home tonight and I'm staying for a few days." Lois grabbed her jacket.

"You're staying?" Chloe asked.

"Please, do you have any idea how much we've got to catch up on?" Lois scoffed. "Oliver, let's go pick up some diner or something." Lois grabbed he jacket and pulled him out of the room.

"Where were you?" Clark asked as soon as the elevator doors closed.

"I went somewhere, where they taught me, trained me." Chloe said. That's all he seemed to need to know because he just nodded and changed topics. He knew how helpless she felt, how hard it was for her when AC and Bart got hurt, how much she wanted to make sure that it never happened again. They talked about how great work was going for him and what he'd been doing for the past three years.

"So I saw the news for the first time the other day." Chloe nudged his shoulder. "Superman huh?"

"Lois called him that. I mean called me that." Clark said blushing. "Because of the S, but it was supposed to be the symbol, you know from the armor."

"Right the big red S." Chloe smiled. "To go along with the red Underwear and blue tights."

"How did I know that would be the first thing you wanted to talk about?" Clark shook his head. "It all about wind resistance and aerodynamics and a bunch of other technical stuff."

"Huh." Chloe said not convinced.

"Besides, my mom made it." Clark said.

"I thought she had better sense than that." Chloe joked with him.

She made fun of his costume some more but he knew that underneath it all she was just really proud of him, proud of what he'd done, what he was doing so he took it in stride until Lois and Oliver got back with dinner. They all ate together and it was nice, it was a like a relaxed family diner and it was the first thing that made Chloe feel like she truly back home.

Clark left later that night and Oliver wasn't too far behind him, leaving Chloe and Lois some alone time to talk, or rather Chloe suspected, for Lois to yell and Chloe to listen. But that's not what happened. "Look." Lois said as they cleaned the dishes. "If I've learned one thing in the past five years with you guys is how important secrets are and how important the reason for keeping secrets can be. I'm not going to nag you, I'm not even going to ask you because when you're ready to tell me where you were and what you were doing, you will. And not that fake Buenos Aires nonsense you gave to everyone else. I want the real story, but I can wait until you're ready."

Chloe was speechless. That was the most mature thing that she had ever heard come out of Lois mouth before. "Thanks Lois, I really appreciate that." Chloe tossed the rag on the counter. "So if you aren't going to nag me about where I've been, why are you staying? Not that I'm not glad to have you here or anything."

"Just because you went off and hid in a cave for three years doesn't mean my life didn't continue." Lois scoffed. "There's so much to catch you up on, and just for fun, I'm going to do it by the week. " Lois smiled and pulled Chloe into the living room and started filing her in on "Lois' life". And she wasn't kidding, she told Chloe everything, ever story she'd written, ever scrape or adventure she'd gone on and even every boring event that happened, like her bi-annual pest control appointment or her dental checkups. But Chloe loved every second of it. She drank in the stories, glad to be a part of Lois life after so long, even if it was after the fact. Lois stayed for three more days until she'd exhausted every story in her memory and forced Chloe to promise never to run off again, which she did for the third time.

* * *

Chloe felt so lucky that her friends, her company, and her team had welcomed her back with open arms. The only thing she had left to fix was her public association with Oliver. As far as the world was concerned when she disappeared three years ago, she left him.

"I'm just glad you'll be back together in public." Abby told Chloe as she planned her first official outing with Oliver since she got back. "Because let me tell you, the sharks have been circling."

Since Chloe left it was like every debutant and heiress in the world was lining up to soothe Oliver's broken heart and somewhere deep down, where Chloe wasn't sure she was ready to acknowledge yet, that really bothered her. "Well the sharks can find some other meat to latch onto." Chloe said.

Her first public appearance since she had gone into hiding was going to be ironically at Bruce's house for his annual Holiday Party. Oliver felt it was the perfect place to go where the largest amount of people would see them together.

"Why can't we go?" Bart wined from his perch on Chloe's bed.

"Because you weren't invited." Oliver said walking into the room and using Chloe's vanity mirror to straighten his bow tie.

"So what?" Bart said. "We're just supposed to sit here while you guys go have fun in the lap of luxury?"

Chloe turned and looked at him confused. "Lap of luxury?" She gestured around her to the 3,000 square foot penthouse suite. "And you're slumming it?" They'd brought the guys with them to Gotham because they'd never been to the city.

Bart stuck his tongue out at her as she put her earrings on. "You almost ready to go?" Oliver asked.

"Yeah." She stood up and adjusted her skirt. "How do I look?" Oliver and Bart both stared at her and smiled.

"Beautiful." Bart said grabbing her arm and spinning her around. "Ditch the party and stay here with me. We'll go dancing."

Chloe laughed as he dipped her and Oliver grabbed her other arm pulling her toward him. "Have fun." He said to Bart. "Don't stay up to late, and don't burn the hotel down."

"Yes dad." Bart sighed following them to the door. Oliver helped Chloe with her coat and they said their goodbyes to the others.

* * *

Chloe surveyed the room and sighed, it felt strange to be back at the Wayne Manor, especially all dressed up in a ball gown and make up, and she felt like she should be sweaty and tired, wearing yoga pants and tennis shoes. Countless people had bombarded her with questions of where she'd been, how long she'd been back and how she and Oliver were doing, she answered them over and over with a smile on her face so tight that she was sure her cheeks would hurt tomorrow. Oliver was enjoying himself by the stereo, in conversation with some old school friends. He caught her eye and smiled she smiled back and resolved to enjoy herself, it was a party after all. Just as she was setting her resolution into action something caught her eye by the entryway. She set her champagne glass on the table and moved backward slowly until she was in the kitchen. "Alfred." She whispered to the butler who was watching a football game on the kitchen television.

"Miss Chloe." He got up quickly. "Did you need something?"

"No." Chloe smiled. "It's just Oliver and I have to leave for a little while. If we disappear could you apologize to Bruce for us and tell him we'll call him tomorrow?"

"Certainly." Alfred bowed to her and she left the kitchen, carefully making her way across the floor to Oliver, keeping one eye on the doorway at all times.

"I just need to borrow him for a minute." She said to Oliver's friends grabbing his arm and practically dragging him across the room to the door. "Crap." She said changing directions suddenly and heading for the back of the room where the bookshelves where.

"Chloe, that was rude, what are you doing?" Oliver asked trying to keep up with her. She made it to the wall of bookshelves and looked around quickly before pulled a book out. The bookcase swung open slightly and before Oliver could register his shock she pulled him in and closed it. The space behind the shelf was barely big enough for the two of them and Oliver got a sudden shock of claustrophobia. "Chloe." Oliver said trying to find her face in the pitch black space. "If you wanted to get me in a closet all you had to do was ask." He joked and suddenly she was pressed up against him. Their already tight quarters seeming tighter as she snaked her arms around his waist. He sucked in his breath as her body pressed against his and she rose up on her tip toes, her body dragging along his at an agonizing pace. "Chloe…" He moaned out when suddenly the wall behind him gave away and he fell backward into a larger room.

"Sorry." Chloe said reaching a hand out to steady him. "I couldn't find the door latch."

Oliver looked around the room they were in, it had a little light, it seemed like a concrete hallway with two branches, one to the right, one to the left. "What's going on?" Oliver asked. "Where are we? How did you know this was here?"

"You can ask a lot of questions later but I need you to listen now." Chloe said to him. "Lex is here." Chloe sighed. She'd seen him walk in and could have kicked herself for forgetting he would come, that he'd come last year. They'd been discussing how with all the information they had on Lex, their people on the inside, they're fairly unlimited access to his computer system, they'd never bothered to bug him directly, personally. Now was their chance.

"Ok." Oliver said still confused.

"This is perfect." Chloe said. "He's at the party; we could sneak into his hotel room and plant the bugs."

"Or I could call Bart and have him do it." Oliver smiled at her enthusiasm.

"That would make more sense." Chloe smiled sheepishly.

Oliver pulled out his phone and relayed the message. He got Victor to figure out where he was staying and Bart would go in and bug whatever he could think of, his briefcase, keys, and wallet, anything he'd left behind at the hotel. "His car, there may be something in there." Chloe reminded Oliver and AC said he'd come out to the Manor and deal with that.

"We could do the car, we're right here."

"We need to get back to the party." Oliver smiled. "I like the gung ho attitude but life is about more than just stopping Lex Luther you know."

Chloe sighed and relaxed a bit. "I know your right." She admitted.

"How exactly do we get back to the party?" Oliver asked.

"The right tunnel takes you to the side of the house, just past the gates, the left one takes you to the back of the house, into the study." Chloe said heading to the left tunnel.

"How do you know about this?" Oliver said as pieces started to fall into place, sure she and Bruce dated for a few months when she was in Gotham but not long enough for her to know about secret passageways, for her to be so familiar with his staff and grounds. "You were here." He said stopping and staring at her.

"What?" Chloe turned and stopped walking too.

"At Bruce's, you were here, he trained you." Oliver said.

Chloe didn't deny it and Oliver shook his head. "I can't believe it." He laughed. "I had Bart scouring Asia and France and you were in freaking Gotham City?"

Chloe smiled. "Not the whole time." She said reminding him of her stay at the monastery. "But most of it yeah."

"Bruce." Oliver said a little hurt now. "You came to Bruce?"

"I knew he could help me." Chloe said. "I knew he was the right one for the job." Oliver just continued walking, passing her up.

"So then you know about…"

"Batman?" Chloe smiled. "For a while." Oliver shook his head in amazement.

"Is there a single hero whose identity you don't know?" He asked.

"None that I can find." Chloe said. "How do you know about Batman?" Chloe asked confused.

"I figured it out about a year ago." He said. "We ran into each other, him as Batman and me as Green Arrow and he said something that was just so familiar and I realized that Bruce had said that to me before. And it just clicked. When I realized it, it made me feel so stupid for not seeing it sooner."

"I know what you mean." Chloe said. "He's really got to stop doing that." She laughed. "That's how I figured it out too."

They emerged at another moving bookcase in the study and Chloe led him through the hallways back to the party. It didn't take long for Lex to spot her either because no sooner had Oliver left to get her another glass of champagne was Lex standing in front of her with a satisfied smirk on his face. "Chloe!" Lana's excitement at seeing her kept Chloe from saying the first thing that popped into her mind when she saw Lex's eyes on hers.

"Lana." Chloe smiled, hugging the woman.

"Oh my God." Lana pulled back and looked at Chloe. "What are you doing here? Where have you been? Why didn't you call?"

"Yes Chloe." Lex said calmly. "Where have you been? It's been three years, it's like you fell off the face of the earth."

Chloe looked at Lex, really looked at him, he did look a little older, his face a few more lines on it but other than that he appeared to be the same Lex Luther that Chloe remembered. She'd spent a year with Monks who taught her enlightenment and forgiveness and then two years with Bruce who taught her about vengeance and justice so Chloe was having a hard time, finally seeing Lex again, deciding whether to smile and let bygones be bygones or slip outside and cut the breaks to his car.

She finally decided on neither, instead ignoring him and putting all her attention onto Lana. She gave the same story that she'd given everyone else about spending time in Buenos Aires. "For three years though?" Lana said. "You didn't talk to anyone, not even Clark or Lois."

"I was a little out of it." Chloe said. "To be perfectly honest, I didn't even realize it had been that long, that's why I came back." Chloe told her.

"Well we've got to catch up." Lana said. "So much has happened since the last time I saw you."

"Actually." Oliver said walking over with Chloe's drink and smiling. "We were planning on spending Christmas in Smallville." He gently put an arm around Chloe's shoulder and pulled her closer. She looked up at him confused. She did not know that, he hadn't mentioned a single thing about that, she really wanted to figure out what the hell he was thinking.

"We?" Lex looked at them. "I didn't realize you two were back together. You know after she ran off for three years and then just showed up out of the blue."

"Well, I can see where that would be a hard concept for you." Oliver said. "Forgiveness. Then again when people leave you it's always been a little permanent. I guess death is hard to forgive."

"So." Chloe smiled. "Good old fashioned, Christmas in Smallville." She tried desperately to change the subject.

"That's fantastic." Lana joined her with false enthusiasm. "I can't wait. We can do all the things we used to do when we were kids." Lana said. "The hay ride, the tour of lights, the Christmas Pageant. Oh it's going to be so much fun."

"So much." Chloe said looking at Oliver again who had an amused look on his face.

"I can hardly wait." Oliver said smiling at her.

"Neither can I." Lex raised his glass to Oliver.

"Look." Chloe said. "We've got to go talk to Bruce about something." She grabbed Lana's hand and smiled. "I'll talk to you later, I promise, and I'll call you about Christmas."

"I can't wait." Lana said hugging her again.

Chloe took Oliver's hand and pulled her toward Bruce who was trying to act like he wasn't completely bored by Jennifer Hutchinson. "Bruce." Chloe said reaching him. "You promised me a tour of the new garden, even if it snowed."

Bruce smiled up at her. "That I did." He said. "If you'll excuse me Jennifer." He nodded at her and then grabbed Chloe's arm as if he was leading her to the garden, Oliver on her other side. "I owe you." He sighed in relief.

"Big time." Chloe agreed.

"So I saw you talking with Lex Luther." Bruce said looking over at Oliver. "What did you say to him, he looks like he's going to break one of my very nice crystal glasses?"

Oliver looked over at Lex who was indeed watching them with a white knuckled grip on his cup. "Nothing." Oliver shrugged.

"Please." Chloe said turning to Bruce. "Apparently now we're spending Christmas in Smallville."

"Christmas in Smallville?" Bruce asked confused.

"I know." Chloe shrugged. "I don't know where that came from."

"So Woodward, how are your skills?" Bruce asked waggling his fingers.

"Pretty good." Chloe smiled. "Why?"

"Feel like making a drop?" Bruce sipped his drink.

"A drop?" Oliver said confused.

"Test or favor?" Chloe asked.

He looked at her for a minute then sighed. "Favor." Bruce finally admitted.

"Every time we settle up you just have to dig another hole." Chloe said.

"I guess I like being indebted to you." Bruce smiled at her.

"Lay it on me." Chloe cricked her neck dramatically.

"What's going on?" Oliver said.

"I want you to slip this into Brian Hale's wallet. Think you can manage that?" Bruce said pulling what looked like a platinum credit card out of his pocket and handing it to her.

"Easy as pie." Chloe said taking the card and looking at it in amazement. "Is this…" She ran her hands over the card. "Is this a long range GPS signal?"

"With an audio receiver." Bruce smiled.

"For any quality audio on something this small." Chloe shook her head. "In his wallet, you'd have to have…"

"An amplifier?" Bruce said, "Under the magnetic strip."

Chloe ran her hands along the magnetic strip and could feel a small wire. She smiled. "This is so cool. I've got to meet your tech guy." Chloe said slapping Oliver's arm. "Get the name of his tech guy."

Oliver rubbed his arm and laughed at the look of glee on Chloe's face. "We have our own tech guy."

"Yeah he makes trick arrows and stuff. Nothing like this." Chloe waved the card in his face.

"She's a bit of a tech junkie." Bruce said to Oliver who wanted to point out that he knew Chloe was a tech junkie because he knew Chloe.

"I'm going in." Chloe said palming the card. "Time me."

Bruce nodded holding up his watch and pushing a button. "Go." Chloe nodded and made her way through the crowd to Brian Hale. Oliver watched her progression with confusion.

"So how exactly is she supposed to slip that in his wallet?" Oliver sipped his drink.

"One of the many talents that we discovered Chloe had was an affinity for pick pocketing." Bruce smiled. "Your girls got magic fingers." He looked over at Oliver. "Then again, I already knew that."

Oliver felt like he might want to break one of Bruce's very nice crystal glasses. "So she was here?" He said without looking at Bruce, not sure he could look at Bruce right now. "The whole time? When I was frantic on the phone with you? When I was at the Christmas party last year and the year before, and the year before, she was in this house and you said nothing as I talked and talked about worried I was about her?"

"Yeah." Bruce said drinking his drink and not looking at Oliver either.

Chloe walked up to them smiling, unaware of the tension. "Time?" Bruce looked at his watch and smiled.

"One minute ten." Bruce said.

"Damn. I'm a little rusty." She held out her hand. "Butterscotch?"

"Where did you get those?" Bruce asked shaking his head.

"Hales got a pocket full." Chloe shrugged. "Probably an alcoholic, keeps the throat moist."

"So this is what you came here to learn?" Oliver asked looking at her with a strange expression on his face.

"Well I also learned this." Chloe stuck her tongue out and touched her nose.

"Nice." Oliver said. "I see now what was so important that you had to desert us."

"Excuse me?" Chloe said.

"Nothing." Oliver said. "It's just nice to finally see what was so important to you, more important than us anyway."

"Bruce will you excuse us for a minute?" Chloe said grabbing Oliver's arm and dragging him to the garden.

"What is your problem?" Chloe asked.

"What problem?" Oliver shrugged.

"What's with this new attitude?" Chloe asked.

"You don't like my attitude? Maybe you should hang out with Bruce."

"That's it." Chloe said walking forward and grabbing at Oliver's belt buckle and undoing it.

"What are you doing?" Oliver asked confused as she pulled the belt from his pants.

"Let's whip it out Oliver." Chloe tossed the belt behind her and reached for his button. "Come on, I'll go get Bruce and we can measure."

"Stop." Oliver said grabbing her wrist. "What's wrong with you?"

"Well you seemed to be fine with the whole me leaving thing until a few minutes ago when you realized I'd been here with Bruce. So either you actually did have a problem this whole time and you've been keeping it inside in which case we need to talk this out or your upset now because I was with Bruce in which case you need to duel it out with him and get the fuck over it." Chloe said. They both stared at each other Chloe quickly realized she was standing there with her hands basically down Oliver's pants. She moved backward letting her hands drop and Oliver just stared at her. "So which is it?"

"I don't want to do this here Chloe." He said. "Not here, not now."

"Yes here, yes now." Chloe said. "We've got to get this out of the way and I don't want to do it in front of the kids. You are so mad at me you can't think straight and it's not helping you to keep it in so let it out." She said. "Throw it on me, because we're not going back inside until you do."

"You want to know why I'm mad Chloe?" Oliver asked. "You really want to know?"

"I really want to know." Chloe said.

"You left me." He said to her. "One minute you were there and the next minute you were gone, like checking out of a hotel, like it didn't matter." His voice was getting louder and louder with every statement he made. "Like the five years we spent together meant so little that you could just up and leave no big deal."

"It wasn't like that." Chloe screamed at him.

"Did it bother you at all?" Oliver asked her. "Did you miss us? Did you worry about us? Huh? Because that's all I did Chloe, the whole time you were gone, all I did was worry about you. Worry that you were all right, worry that you were getting yourself into something and I wouldn't be able to help you because I didn't know where you were or what you were doing." He laughed humorlessly. "And the whole time, you were here, with your ex, Bruce Fucking Wayne, picking pockets and god knows what else."

"It wasn't even like that." Chloe shook her head. "You have no idea what I went through. You have no idea what I put myself through for you." She pointed out. "Everything I did, everything, was for you, so I could be better, so I could do better for you."

"I didn't ask you to do that." Oliver pointed out. "You didn't need to be better. We were fine with who you were."

"Well I wasn't." Chloe said. "I didn't feel like I was making a big enough contribution, I didn't feel like I was pulling my weight and then AC and Bart land up in the hospital because of me." She shook her head.

"No one but you thought that was your fault." Oliver told her. "You didn't do that for us, you did that for you Chloe. It was selfish and it was juvenile."

Chloe paused. "Maybe you're right. Maybe I did do it for me; maybe I was using you guys as an excuse. But I don't regret it. I could have gone about it in another way but at the time I wasn't thinking and then it was too late." She sighed. "I'm finally the person that I think I'm supposed to be. And you know what? You guys don't even see that." She threw her hands up. "I mean you've noticed the cool moves and the longer hair, but I've changed Damnit." She picked up a snowball and threw it at him.

"I know you've changed." Oliver said shaking off the snowball. "That's all I can think about." Oliver shook his head. "You hold yourself differently now, talk differently now, everything you do is so different." Oliver threw a snowball at her.

"I've just grown Oliver." Chloe said throwing another snowball. "Why is that such a bad thing?"

"Because what if you keep growing and grow right out us?" He said throwing another snowball at her.

Chloe opened her mouth and then closed it. "That's what's really bothering you." She said quietly.

"What?" He said confused.

"That I'm going to wake up one day and think that I don't want to be with you guys anymore." Chloe said. "Isn't it?"

"Well." Oliver said. "Yeah."

"That's not going to happen." Chloe laughed. "Come on Oliver, all the stuff I did, all the things I went through was so you guys didn't grow out of me."

Oliver laughed and Chloe laughed too they seemed to deflate, relax. "I feel better now." Oliver said reaching up to brush some snow out of Chloe's hair. "You feel better?"

"Yeah." Chloe smiled wiping off his shoulders. "I really do." Chloe smiled.

"I wanted to scream at you when you came back. I wanted to yell, I wanted to throw things but I'd just gotten you back and I was afraid if I did, it would just push you away." He told her.

"I'm not gonna leave because you yell at me." Chloe smiled. "We're gonna have to fight sometimes Oliver, we're gonna have to scream, we're gonna have to throw things but we're gonna work through our problems and be better for it in the end."

"Can we go back inside now?" Oliver asked jumping up and down a little. "I'm freezing."

"Yeah." Chloe nodded enthusiastically. Oliver took her arm and brought her back into the house.

"Are you good?" Bruce asked handing them each a cup of coffee.

"We're good." Chloe nodded.

"Are we good?" Bruce turned to Oliver.

"Yeah." Oliver said. "We're good."

"Now boys." Chloe said taking each of them by the arm. "Don't you fight over little old me." She smiled. "You're making me blush." Oliver laughed.


	15. Chapter 15

Things were much better after Bruce's party. They didn't go back to normal, they both realized now that there was no going back but they were working out what their new relationship meant, but they were getting there. Chloe went back to work, regular and JLA but she was a little worried about how the new Chloe was work in that dynamic, after everything she'd done, everything she'd been through how could she go back to being Watchtower? Is that what the team would want or would they realize what she was capable of? Only time would tell.

Oliver walked into the space that he'd turned into a gym, the space that Chloe rarely used before she left but could be found at practically every day since she got back. Victor, AC, and Bart were staring up at something, they're mouths hanging open. He looked up and saw why; Chloe was silently and expertly weaving her way through the tangle of rafters that lined the ceiling. "Watchtower." Oliver called up after she'd made her way from one end to the other, swing, hopping, and twisting over poles to get there without once losing her footing. "We've got a mission, you want in?"

She smiled down at him jumped, landing almost impossibly silent on the floor in front of them. "Dude." Bart said. "She's a freaking ninja."

Chloe laughed a little embarrassed and followed Oliver back to the meeting room. "We've been looking for this place for a month now. We got a tip, from Cassandra that Lex was making something but she said she couldn't tell what."

"Cassandra?" Chloe was surprised to hear that name again after so long.

"Yeah, she's still sending us information on Lex." Oliver said. "She sent us a message about you." He looked at her out of the corner of his eye. "When you were gone. She told us you were fine, and not to worry."

"That was sweet of her." Chloe said remembering all too well that Cassandra was part of the reason she left in the first place.

"Anyway." Oliver turned back to the map. "She was pretty vague on the location."

"Isn't she always?" Victor piped in.

"But I'm sure I've found it."

"So we're heading out?" AC asked.

"In two hours." Oliver said closing the computer screen. "I'm guessing you don't want to do this one from behind the computer." Oliver asked Chloe.

"You'd guess right." Chloe smiled.

"Good." Oliver walked to a closet and pulled out a garment bag. "That means I didn't have this thing made for nothing." The boys gathered around anxiously and Chloe suddenly felt a little nervous.

Chloe opened the bag to find her very own JLA suit. Very similar to everyone else's, leather pants and a form fitting leather top with a hood only hers was a deep blue, her favorite color. "Is it ok?" Oliver asked.

"Perfect." She assured him as she closed up the bag.

* * *

Chloe stepped off the plane and felt her adrenaline start pumping and they weren't even to the car yet. She vowed that she would never get over this feeling, the excitement of what she'd be doing in a few hours, the rush of the whole thing, her first real mission with them. "You ready?" Oliver asked as they headed to the car. Chloe nodded smiling and followed him. They checked into a local motel under assumed names and went inside to wait for night fall. "The lab is about fifteen miles out of town. We can drive ten; maybe eleven miles out then we'll have to go on foot." Oliver said spreading out a map on the table.

"Do we know what the labs doing?" Chloe asked.

"No, we just know its Lex and any secret lab in the middle of nowhere owned by Lex isn't going to be curing cancer." Victor said.

"Bart will go ahead and scout it out for us; we couldn't get a good satellite image because of the mountains." Oliver said. "We'll go in, grab some samples of whatever he's making out there and let it burn."

"Works for me." Bart said jumping on the bed and turning on the television. "Let me know when we're rolling out."

Oliver, Chloe, and Victor studied the map and the blueprint that Chloe was able to get from Lex's system. When they bagged their gear and headed to the car. They'd change when they got out of town. They drove as far as they could and then set off on foot after changing. When they were close enough Bart took off to check it out.

"Five guards on the outside, only one building." Bart said when he got back scouting the area. "They're all armed, but there is no alarm system as far as I can tell."

"Why do they need one?" Oliver said. "They're in the middle of nowhere."

"How many entrances?" Victor asked.

"Three." Bart said.

"All right you guys know the plan." Oliver said.

"We've got it." AC nodded.

"Victor you take Chloe." Oliver said. "Bart you go with AC." They all nodded. "Let's do this. Chloe." Oliver called and she looked up. "I think you're gonna need this." He walked over and strapped something to her wrist. "It's a wrist monitor; it's got everything the computer at the Penthouse has."

"In a handy dandy travel format." Victor pointed out.

"Hey, doesn't matter where you are, at base, in the field. You're still our Watchtower." Oliver said before turning around and walking off to his position. Just like with the satellite image, the mountain's interference didn't allow the device to serve her as well she would have liked but it was better than going in blind. The communicators worked fine because they were all together but Chloe had a feeling she'd have been getting a lot of static and not much talk if she was back home in Star City.

They all went their separate ways. The guards went down easy, likely they hadn't expected anyone to ever try and sneak up on them. There was only three more inside and with very little trouble they were taken care of and Victor and Chloe went off to find the main frame while Bart and AC searched the lab. "Got anything good Impulse?" Green Arrow asked. "Come on make my day?"

"If I say yes, can I get that Ferrari?" Impulse asked.

"No civilians." AC cut in. "But we've got lots of vials of something what do you want us to grab?"

"As much as you can carry." Green Arrow said. "And any test results, medical records."

"Sure thing boss." Impulse said. "About that Ferrari."

"Impulse…" Green Arrow said in a warning tone. "Tell me you got something over there Watchtower?"

"Cyborg is in the system, I'm transferring files now." Watchtower said.

"Make sure you…"

"If you tell us to wipe the system I swear to God." Watchtower joked.

"I was gonna tell you to make sure to watch your back." Green Arrow countered with lamely.

"Why don't you do what you're supposed to do and let us do our job?" Cyborg said.

"When did you guys stop being scared of me?" Green Arrow asked.

"About ten minutes after we met." Cyborg said. "That about right huh guys?"

"I get it." Green Arrow said. "I get it. Ten minutes."

"We're heading out." Watchtower said.

"We're right behind you." Aquaman said.

"I'll meet you at the rendezvous point." Green Arrow said. "Impulse do a sweep and make sure the buildings empty before we clear out."

"On it." Impulse said.

Green Arrow met up with the others far enough away from the building to be safe when the charges went off. The five guards from outside the building and two from inside where lying a few feet away unconscious. Impulse came zooming up, dragging the third guard behind him. "All clear." He said laying him on the ground.

"Here we go." Green Arrow said and pushed a button as the building blew up.

"That should keep them warm." AC said watching the flames burn.

None of them noticed the guard behind them starting to stir and Oliver was talking about making it back to town before the sun rose, to keep them under the cover of dark until they could change their clothes.

"Let's get out of here and back home." Oliver said pushing his hood back.

"God please." Chloe said nodding. "I can't wait to take a bath."

"I just want a big double burrito." Bart said.

"Don't talk about food." Victor said as his stomach growled.

"I'm just so hungry." Bart wined then grabbed his neck, his face in pain and turned around. Oliver and Chloe saw the guard first. Standing shakily and holding a gun on Bart. Victor took off toward him and the guard let off another shot but it didn't seem to faze Victor. He made it to the guard before he could shoot again and knocked him out.

"Bart." Chloe jumped forward and caught him as his legs seemed to give out. She looked where he was holding his neck and pulled out what looked like a small syringe. She turned and saw the same thing sticking out of Victor's neck. It didn't seem to be affecting Victor at all. "You're ok, you weren't shot, it's a…I don't know what it is."

"Some sort of drug." Oliver said looking at it. "Victor grab his gun, we need to know what this stuff is." Victor nodded and took the guards gun, slipping it into his waist band.

"My legs feel strange." Bart said wobbling.

They all heard a noise and turned, looking down the hill to see a caravan of cars coming up the entrance. "We got to go." AC said and Chloe helped Bart limp into the woods.

"This isn't the way back." Chloe told Oliver.

"We'll have to go around." He watched more guards spill out of the cars and try to get as close to the building as they could. "Come on." He led them deeper into the woods and Chloe couldn't help but feel like this was a bad idea.

Bart was able to walk on his own but he soon found out he couldn't use his super speed. "They took his powers?" Chloe whispered in horror to Oliver.

"We don't know that." Oliver said. "Maybe it was just a sedative or something, could just be interfering with his powers."

Chloe nodded, hoping Oliver was right as they kept walking.

* * *

"Can't you super speed yet? Back to the hotel and grab us some coats?" AC asked shivering.

"No." Bart said his breathing heavy. "I don't know what they shot me with but…I don't even know where the hell the hotel is from here." He shivered rubbing his hands up his arms.

"What are we gonna do?" Victor asked. He was the only one of them that couldn't feel the cold, but it didn't make him any less tired, they'd been walking since dawn and they hadn't see anything except for snow and more snow and far off mountains. Somehow they'd managed to get themselves thoroughly lost. "It's getting dark."

"I'm working on it." Oliver said through clenched teeth.

They walked a little more and came across a small little village. The people seemed to give them a wide berth. "Are they scared of us?" Bart asked.

"It's the clothes." Chloe said and they all turned to her surprised. She hadn't said anything since they set off. A woman said something as they passed and then spit at their feet. Chloe chuckled.

"What?" Oliver stepped over the spit and they tried to steer clear of the villagers.

"She called you a white devil." Chloe smiled.

"You speak the language?" Victor asked.

"Not completely." Chloe said. "I know the dialect but I wouldn't try and speak too much, there's cultural difference in the language, I'd probably end up insulting someone's mother." She stopped walking suddenly and stared straight ahead.

"What?" Everyone stopped and tried to figure out what Chloe was looking at.

"Just a second." She held up a hand to indicate they should stay where they were and walked toward a group of monks in orange robes. She talked to them for a second and then held up her right arm unsnapping her bracelet. The smiled and nodded at her and she motioned with her head for the others to follow.

The monks led them up a narrow and steep path on the side of the mountain as Bart, AC, and Victor seemed to be having a heated whispered discussion. "What are you guys arguing about?" Oliver asked and they shut up without giving an explanation. The monks stopped when they reached what looked like a temple. Chloe and the guys waited as the monks went inside and brought another monk out. Chloe walked over, bowed, and started talking again. She unsnapped her bracelet and held out her wrist. The new monk looked down and nodded at her motioning for them to wait.

"See man, I freaking told you." Bart said.

"Told them what?" Oliver asked. "What's going on with you guys?"

"Her wrist." Bart said. "There is something on her wrist. She's been wearing that bracelet since she got back, everywhere man, I've never seen her take it off, but she did now twice, she showed them something."

"Bart give it up." AC said. "What you think she's showing them her dark mark and leading us into Voldermort's lair?"

Oliver chuckled slightly but turned around to see Chloe snapping the bracelet back on. Bart was right, she'd had that thing on since she got back and he couldn't remember her ever taking it off. There was nothing special about it. It was a simple black leather band, about two inches thick with three snaps holding it on her wrist.

"First of all." Bart smiled. "You just showed us how much of a dork you really were." AC glared at him. "Second of all, dark marks are on the left arm, and not on the wrist."

Victor and Oliver turned to Bart who shrugged. "So I like Harry Potter." Chloe walked back up to them and smiled.

"They're gonna give us food and shelter for the night and tell us how to get back to town tomorrow." She looked at them. "This is a holy place guys, a sacred place. Don't act like yourselves ok, we are guests here, you'll be polite and honor these men who are kind enough to help us out. You will not wear shoes inside, you will not speak during prayer time, and you will not ask for seconds at diner. They are gonna bring some robes out for us to wear, leather isn't really big with these guys."

"They can shave my head if they've got a fire going." Bart said. Chloe glared at him and he mimed zipping his mouth up. One of the monks came back with five orange robes and Chloe bowed taking them and passing them out to the guys. They threw the robes on over their clothes and then took off the leather outfits and handed them to a monk, who held them as if they were poisonous and led them inside.

Miraculously all the guys, especially Bart were quiet during prayer time, which to everyone's surprise Chloe joined the monks in. Then they all sat down for diner. Number 16 was acting as their guide of sorts; he spoke enough English so that Chloe didn't have to worry about insulting anyone.

"So are you gonna explain why they're doing all this for us?" Victor asked.

"And what's up with your wrist?" Bart said.

"My wrist?" Chloe asked.

"The bracelet. You've been wearing it since you got back and you never take it off. But you did for these guys." Bart said. "You showed them something."

"Bart." Oliver snapped at him. "Maybe she doesn't want to tell us."

"No." Chloe sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. "It's ok." She thought about the last time she'd been in a monastery.

_

* * *

For the first six months her days at Bruce's were practically the same. She got up, ran, sat, did her training and then got the shit kicked out of her by Bruce until it was time for dinner and bed. Her muscles didn't ache anymore which Chloe figured was probably a bad thing because if Bruce found out he would just think of some new torture to inflict on her. Today was different, besides her morning runs she hadn't been outside of Wayne Manor since she got there, but now she was on Bruce's plane and he hadn't told her where they were going or why._

"_I'm proud of you." Bruce said. Chloe looked over at him. _

"_What?" She said confused. Her muscles didn't hurt any more but she wasn't getting any better as far as she could tell. She was still a good twenty minutes behind him on their morning run. She had a real hard time with the sitting and Bruce still kicked the crap out of her on a daily basis. She'd grown accustomed to stepping out of the shower and seeing a black eye, bloody lip and completely purple torso. _

"_To tell you the truth." Bruce said. "I thought you'd leave that first day." He tilted his head at her. "When I said no coffee." _

_At the mention of the word Chloe's mouth watered. She hadn't had any coffee since the cup she got from the airport lounge right before she went to the Manor, if she would have known that would have been her last she would have made the trek to a Starbucks. "I guess I'm stronger than you thought." She bristled at the lack of faith he had in her. _

"_Much." Bruce admitted to her. "But there is so much more for you to learn." He said. "And I just can't teach it to you." _

"_What does that mean?" Chloe asked leaning forward in her seat._

"_It took me years of training to get where I am today. I know you don't have that kind of time, and I don't have that kind of time." Chloe wondered what was going on. Was he taking her back to Star City? To Oliver. _

"_Bruce." _

"_I have some friends who are going to help me. Get the more basic stuff out of the way, your martial arts training, getting you into shape." He said to her. "To be perfectly honest I'm starting to feel like an asshole beating the shit out of my ex every day." _

"_So you're taking me to friends?" Chloe said. _

"_I'm taking you to the people who trained me." He said._

"_You mean the crazy ass Monks who tried to kill you then came back to Gotham and tried to kill it?" She asked concerned. _

"_No." Bruce laughed. "These are different Monks." He said. "These are the guys that taught me all that Zen crap." He leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes. "They can teach you what you need to know to fight." He smiled. "Then I can teach you what you need to know to be a superhero." _

_Chloe sat back in her seat. She wasn't sure how she felt about this. She'd come to Bruce for help, not his friends but if this was his way of helping she was going with it. She was a little scared though. She'd gotten used to her routine at the Manor, gotten Alfred to open up a little, gotten Bruce to laugh a few times even. "If you think it's best." She said settling in her seat and staring out the window. _

_She fell asleep at some point because the plane was landing when she opened her eyes. "We're here." Bruce said unbuckling his seat belt and walking to the door. He opened the ladder and Chloe froze, literally. She'd been wearing a light sweater to ward off the morning chill but outside the plane was a frozen lake, surrounded by frozen trees, surrounded by snow covered mountains. "Come on." He motioned to her and she followed him without question, down the ladder, across the ice carefully and to a long row of steps. "Go up there." He said pointing to the building at the top. "They're waiting for you."_

"_You're leaving?" She asked her teeth banging together in the cold. _

"_I'll be back when you're ready." He said. He thought for a second and then pulled her into a hug, kissing her on the forehead before walking back to the plane. _

_Chloe forced her frozen legs to start on the enormous row of steps to the temple. She didn't look back, even when she heard the plane take off. _

_She didn't realize that a whole year had passed until Number 20 told her one morning as he was setting up the mats. Days seemed to melt into each other here, far more than they had at Wayne Manor. There she at least had some contact with the outside world. Learning to sit in Bruce's office gave her an inside look at the workings of his company, but here the days flowed together without any distinction except for sleep and even that wasn't a reliable indicator because the Monks would keep her awake for days at a time. There was no routine here either, routine got you complacent, and complacency got you killed. _

_It was very likely for the Monks to switch her training up in the middle of an exercise just for the hell of it. Then there were times when she would go for weeks doing the same exercise over and over until everything blurred together. Some days were spent doing nothing but sitting. Sitting in the temple, sitting on the lake, sitting in the mountains. Everything was done however with a running commentary on way of the way of the Zen master, parables and sayings were shoved into her head whether she was fighting, training, sitting, or eating. _

_On the day that Number 20 said she'd been there a year he also said that her training would be different that day, which didn't mean much to Chloe seeing as how her training was different every day. "Sit." He said pointing to the middle of the mat. Chloe nodded and walked to the middle of the mat and sat down. Number 20 bowed to her and left the room. _

_This was different, generally at least one Monk stayed behind to watch her sit so that if they felt she was zoning out they could hit her in the head with something. At least she figured out where Bruce got that from. She closed her eyes and started her breathing exercises, closing out everything around her and listening to the sound of her breathing, centering herself, calming herself. _

_She had just gotten into her meditative state when she heard something, something faint coming from somewhere in the temple. All the monks were in the mountains on a pilgrimage. Number 20 was the only one who stayed behind to watch over her but he'd left. She heard something again and calmly as if she hadn't heard a thing she kept her position. Someone was here in the temple and she didn't want them to know that she knew they were there. _

_The Monks did this every now and then. They would jump out at her whenever she was in a relaxed state, about to go to bed, walking from one place to another, they would test her. She figured that's what was happening now. She took deep breaths, keeping a mental track of the sounds she was hearing, weeding out the ones she knew were supposed to be there, the breeze hitting the lotus tree, the mouse in the corner, the lake down the path. She picked out the sounds that were not supposed to be there, the small thunk above her head in the rafters, the squeak that emitted from the board fourth from the alter when someone stepped on it, the small crunch of shoes on the workout mats, the noises that had no place in the temple. _

_Chloe breathed with her eyes closed, adjusting the height of the intruder based on the shadow that covered the sun from the east windows, the weight of him based on the pressure put on the mat. She felt the slightest of breezes on her earlobe and threw her hands up in the air, connecting with an arm that had been in an arc straight for her head. She pulled down and felt the weight of her attacker fall to the mat as she scrambled up, opening her eyes. Excepting to see Monk number 20 she momentarily froze when she saw the man completely dressed in black. That was all he needed, she was still holding on to his arm so he used that to pull her down and himself up. She put her head back in the fight and extended her leg, catching him in the elbow and forcing him to let go. They both rolled to opposite ends of the mat and jumped up circling each other. _

_This was not Number 20, or any of the other Monks for that matter. This guy was all dressed in black and had his face covered with a ski mask. He was quick, well trained and for a second and only a second Chloe contemplated that this could still be a test, until he grabbed a sword off the wall and headed toward her. She took a calming breath and evaluated her surroundings, she could bet on the chance that she knew this place better than the strange ninja that was attacking her and crouched quickly, rolling through his legs to come out on the other side of him. _

_She jumped up before he turned around and grabbed another sword off the wall. He studied her for a moment and then attacked. They fought their way through the temple and outside to the grass. Neither one getting the upper hand, both struggling to keep up with the other until Chloe had a lucky moment and the ninja slipped on a rock in the Zen garden. She knocked the sword out of his hand as he fell and watched it clatter down the steps like a slinky. Her short distraction however cost her and he managed to regain his footing and knock her sword out of her hands and send her sprawling to the ground. She grabbed onto his shirt at the last second and the both of them went tumbling down the steps after the sword, the both of them bumping their heads and arms and legs as they wrestled with each other. The ninja trying to get Chloe to let go and Chloe trying to hold on as tight as she could. They both landed at the bottom, a few feet away from the lake and laid there assessing the damage and making sure there were no broken bones. Chloe heard the ninja grunt and pulled herself to her feet. She walked over toward him and as he started to pull himself up she kicked him in the side, sending him rolling a little more right to the edge of the lake. He rolled over onto his back and Chloe put her foot on his neck. "What do you want?" She asked, her breath coming fast as she grabbed her arm, almost positive she'd broken it in the roll down the steps. _

_The man reached up and pulled the hood off of his head and smiled. "You're ready." Bruce said smiling at her. She moved her foot from his neck and reached out a hand. He looked at her then grabbed it and allowed her to pull him up. They turned around to make their way back up the steps, Bruce holding onto his left leg like Chloe held onto her arm. They headed back up to the temple only to see the Monks standing at the top nodding at Chloe. She lowered her head and trudged up. "Crazy ass Monks." She said to herself as she went to gather her things._

_There was one more thing she needed Number One told her. They were throwing her was would constitute a going away party, as much of a party as Monks ever had she supposed. He brought her over to Number 5 who was sitting by a table full of very small needles and a vial of ink. "You're giving me a tattoo?" Chloe asked. "Does this mean I'm part of the gang?" _

_Bruce chuckled. "Sort of." He held out his hand and showed her his right wrist and she figured if Bruce did it, she could do it. She nodded at Number 5 and he dipped the needle in ink and motioned for her hand. She took a deep breath and gave it to him. _

* * *

"Chloe." AC said and she snapped out of her memory.

"I trained with a group of Monks when I was gone." Chloe said putting a piece of bread in her mouth. "They taught me, most of what I know now. This group is part of the same family I guess you could call it. When I explained to them that I'd lived with their brothers and showed them my wrist they allowed us sanctuary." Chloe said.

"What's so special about your wrist?" AC asked. Chloe took a deep breath and held out her hand, she unsnapped the leather band slowly and Oliver grabbed her hand.

"You don't have to if you're not ready." He told her.

"It's fine." Chloe assured him. She removed the leather and flipped her wrist over. The guys all looked down and saw four Chinese symbols tattooed there. Oliver reached over traced each one then looked up at her.

"What do they mean?" He whispered.

She looked over at Number 16 and he nodded jumping in with an explanation. "When you complete your training, you are marked, a signal of your completion." He took her wrist and pointed to the first one. "This is the symbol of the monastery where she was trained." He pointed to the second one. "This is her number 47."

"What's with the numbers?" Oliver asked.

"Names have personality, ego, they separate us from the whole, make us different." Number 16 said. "They give us numbers instead, it's supposed to hinder individuality and tap down your ego. We keep a reminder of our number to separate us from our ego."

Chloe shrugged. "The same thing with the robes. Problem is having separate numbers is just like having separate names as far as I'm concerned. I never really got into the whole Zen thing."

"What about these two?" Oliver asked looking at the other two symbols.

"These apparently represent my soul, my destiny." Chloe looked at them.

"In every monastery there is a monk who is trained to look into the soul." Number 16 said. "He sees your true person, your destiny, what you are and what you will become."

"What do they stand for?" Bart asked.

"This one means Guardian?" Chloe asked Number 16.

"The one who watches over." He added.

"And this one is for Healer." Chloe said and Oliver looked up. "You want to know the really strange part? I didn't tell them anything." She smiled at Oliver. "About my role as Watchtower or my meteor powers."

"How did they know?" He asked as she snapped the bracelet back on.

"Number 5 was always a freaky son of a bitch." Chloe laughed. "Always saying cryptic things that no one understood. But every now and then he'd say something so personal and you'd have no idea how he knew about it."

"Maybe he had his own meteor powers." Oliver offered.

"Maybe he was truly enlightened." Chloe said. "Who knows."

"Why do you hide them?" Oliver wondered.

"I don't know." Chloe said. "It's not something I want to advertise, it seems personal to me for some reason, I'd rather not have people ask about them." She looked at the guys. "I wasn't sure if I was ready to have you ask about them."

"I'm sorry." Bart had the decency to look ashamed.

"It's ok." Chloe smiled at him. "I want you guys to know where I've been, what I've done, you just got to understand it may take some time, and sometimes you might have to force it out of me."

"We can do that." Victor said.

Another monk came and whispered something to Number 16. He turned to Chloe. "Number 1 would like to speak to you."

Chloe nodded at the guys and stood up, following Number 16 to the lead monk. They talked for a minute and Chloe looked over at another monk who nodded and bowed at her. She shook her head and chuckled a bit before heading back to the guys. "Number 20 over there seems to have the same freaky power here Number 5 did at my monastery." She looked over at him again. "Number 1 says that Number 20 knows what we're doing here."

"What do you mean?" Oliver asked.

"He says he knows what we're doing, he knows that we stopped death palace." Chloe sighed.

"The death palace?" Bart looked at the monk and then back at Chloe. "I don't know how well his powers are working, but I'm sure we don't know anything about a death palace."

"Lex's Lab." Oliver said. "They know about it?"

"He says they take people from the village and do something to them. They come back a few days later and they're fine but then they get sick and they die." Chloe shrugged. "They also say that despite the leather, if we stopped the death palace, we might not be so poorly reincarnated."

"You might even make it up to cow." Number 16 nodded enthusiastically and Victor and AC had to stop themselves from chuckling.

Oliver looked over at Number 20 and nodded his thanks. They all slept soundly that night and in the morning were given their leather clothing back and a day's worth of rations as Number 16 told them how to get back to town. "Should be a half a day's walk from here." Chloe said. "We got ourselves pretty turned around out there, we were closer than we realized."

"Sorry guys, if I could have super speeded I would have saved us a lot of trouble." Bart said.

"It's not your fault Bart." Oliver assured him. He was actually happy for the little detour, it gave him a change to get some insight into where Chloe had been, what she'd done.

"How are you feeling today?" Chloe asked concerned.

"Pretty good." He said. "Like I could run a thousand miles."

"When we get away from the monks, go for it." She told him.

As they started to leave Number 20 grabbed Oliver's arms and said something to him. "I'm sorry I don't understand." He shook his head. Number 20 looked at Chloe to translate. She nodded and thought for a second.

"Um he said you are a great leader?" She repeated the word to Number 20 who shook his head and Chloe searched for the right word. "A selfless leader. And…" She looked at Number 20 again and he repeated the second half. Chloe smiled and looked up at Oliver. "And if you trust in your Guardian, you will find the Justice you seek."

Number 20 nodded and then walked back to the monastery. "How did he know?" Oliver asked confused.

"I told you, freaky son of a bitch." Chloe laughed and her and Oliver met up with us the other and started the trek to town.

* * *

Oliver sent everything they'd gotten from Lex's lab to his lab as soon as they got back and the stuff from the guards gun. Chloe and Victor decided to divide and concur, Victor taking the hard drive and Chloe going over the medical records and test results that Bart had gotten from the labs. "It's a cure." Chloe said flipping through different medical files and everyone stopped and turned to her. "Well not so much a cure, it's a suppressant. He's found a way to suppress powers. He must have gotten the formula from that lab, you remember the one Cassandra sent us to?"

"We've been watching that place, still. There's no way Lex got anything from them." Oliver shook his head.

"Maybe he got there on his own." AC said.

"But it doesn't work right?" Bart asked hopefully. "I mean it wore off after a day."

"It's not permanent. But it's supposed to last for three months. You were just able to metabolize it faster than anyone else would."

"So that's why it didn't bother me?" Victor asked leaving the computer to come look at Chloe's files. "Because I have no powers to suppress."

"It looks like it's harmless to normal people; it just affects those with powers." Chloe said passing the files to Oliver who was standing over her. "Is that possible?"

"My lab looked over the stuff we got." Oliver said. "They stuff from Lex's lab wasn't complete. Like he made it in two or more components and he doesn't keep them all at the same place and it's taking them a while to break down what we got from that gun."

"So it's not harmful?" AC asked. "But then why were the villagers dying?"

"The villagers didn't have any powers." Chloe said. "They were injecting them with meteor solution, then injecting them with the cure and then taking biopsies and blood samples to study the effects." Chloe sighed. "The combination of the meteor solution and the cure, on top of the biopsies is probably what killed them. It didn't seem like they were trying to be careful or even sanitary about the procedures."

"So they most likely died from infection of the biopsy site." Oliver said.

"That's what I think." Chloe sighed. "If he's mass producing this, putting it in weapon form…"

"We don't know that yet." Oliver warned her not to think so pessimistically. "Let's not jump to conclusions."

"Your right." Chloe said. "I'm just tired."

"We're all tired." Victor said.

"Let's just take a break." Oliver sighed. "We won't know anymore until we get the lab tests back and I've been working you guys pretty hard recently."

"Because Lex has been working pretty hard recently." Chloe pointed out.

"I'm gonna head home, get some sleep. Maybe revisit this stuff in the morning." Victor logged off the computer.

"I'll come with you." AC said.

"I'm gonna go get some dinner." Bart said. "Anyone want to join?"

"No thanks I think I'm just gonna relax here." Chloe said.

"I'm not that hungry." Oliver said and Bart nodded before getting into the elevator with the others.

Oliver sat on Chloe's couch and leaned back sighing. Chloe grabbed her laptop and the hard drive that Victor had gotten and sat down next to him. "You don't have to go through that now." Oliver said. "I know you're tired."

"I want to. Without the full formula, this is all we've got." Chloe assured him. "But you don't have to stay, you can sleep." She said.

"No, I'm good." Oliver said as his breathing slowed and his eyes closed.

Chloe looked over at him and smiled. She'd bet her company on the fact that he was out cold in five minutes. Two hours later Oliver was spread out on her couch and Chloe was at the printer pulling papers out. She walked back to the couch, looking over them and lifted Oliver's feet, sat down, and put his feet back down in her lap as she yawned. "Chloe go to bed." Oliver mumbled as he rolled over on the couch.

"Ok." She said to him, not really paying attention as she went over the papers, pretty sure she could last for a few more hours. Thirty minutes later Chloe was spread out on top of Oliver fast asleep, her head on his chest and her papers scattered over the floor.

Chloe started to wake up the next morning to the smell of fresh coffee. She stretched and rolled over onto her back, only to remember that she was on the couch and there was nowhere to roll over to. Before she slammed into the ground someone caught her around her waist and she opened her eyes to see Oliver leaning over and holding her up.

"If you guys slept in a bed you wouldn't have that problem." Victor said from the kitchen where he was waiting for the coffee to finish. Oliver slowly lowered Chloe to the ground and she pulled herself up and popped her back very loudly. "And you're back would love you."

"What time is it?" Chloe asked as Oliver stood up and stretched.

"Six." Victor said. "Figured I'd get an early start on that stuff." He looked at all the paper scattered around. "Looks like you beat me to it."

"I've got to jump in the shower." Chloe yawned. "I've got a few meetings at work today but I can be back later to help you."

"No worries." Victor said. "I don't have anything else to do."

"I'm gonna head home and get ready for work too." Oliver grabbed his jacket and headed to the elevator. "Lunch today?"

"Sure." Chloe said grabbing the cup of coffee Victor was holding out to her. She took a sip of the coffee and notice Victor was smiling at her strangely. "What?" She reached for her hair, expecting it to be standing straight up or something.

"Nothing." Victor said but his eyes cut to the couch.

"We fell asleep." Chloe said to him. "It was nothing."

"I didn't say anything." Victor walked to the computer.

"Shut up." Chloe said on her way to the bathroom.

"Didn't say anything." Victor smiled to himself as he started where Chloe left off.


	16. Chapter 16

Chloe could hear the laughter from the living room but she couldn't see anything from where she was. She assumed the guys were back from their trip to another 33.1 lab. As much as Chloe was becoming a more involved part of the team, she still had a lot of messes to clean up at the office from her little trip so she was forced to sit this one out. "A little help would be nice." She called out into the apartment. There was the familiar breeze that signaled Bart's arrival and he grabbed the groceries bags from her and she was able to see. "Thanks." She led him to the kitchen and he set all the bags on the counter. "What's going on?" She asked as another round of laughter came from the living room.

"Becca's just telling AC that story about Madagascar." Bart started to unload the groceries.

"Becca?" Chloe said confused as she pulled out the steaks. "Madagascar?" She looked at Bart and he smiled.

"You know the one with the elephants." Bart opened the fridge laughing as he remembered something Chloe wasn't sure about. She looked above his head on the fridge and there was a letter. It was from the homeowner's association about the monthly meeting. But written over the body of the letter, in pink marker were bubbly letters.

"Chlo, don't forget, it's your turn, I went last month. Love Becca." She pulled the paper down from the fridge with a frown on her face. There was the name Becca again. She turned to Bart. "Who the hell …"

"Hey Chlo." A tall girl bound in the room and slung an arm over Chloe's shoulder. Chloe turned to her and her vision went blurry for a second and then she smiled. "Hey Becca." She passed her the paper with a raised eyebrow. "I'm pretty sure what I went to every meeting last year so you owe me big time."

"I was hoping you forgot that." Rebecca smiled.

"Yeah in your dreams." Chloe scoffed.

"Who the hell what?" Bart asked as he munched on a carrot.

"Huh?" Chloe asked.

"You said Who the hell…and then you just stopped."

Chloe looked at Becca who shrugged and then she smiled. "Yeah." Chloe walked closer to Bart. "Who the hell keeps leaving the orange juice out?"

"My bad." Bart blushed and lowered his head as Chloe put the carton back into the fridge.

"What's going on with diner?" Oliver asked from the doorway.

"If people would stop coming in here and interrupting me I could get started." Chloe joked then looked down. She had five steaks. She looked around confused. Why would she have gotten five steaks when she had to feed six people. She sighed and closed here eyes she could feel a headache coming on. "Bart, could you run down to the butchers and get me another steak, I just counted wrong."

"Sure." Bart smiled.

"And some aspirin." Chloe said and Bart nodded.

* * *

Chloe cooked diner and they all ate but she couldn't seem to enjoy it because of the headache. The aspirin hadn't helped and the headache just got worse. Victor helped her do the dishes and the second time she dropped a glass into the sink he told her to go get some sleep. She nodded and walked out of the kitchen only to stop as she heard whispers at the door. "I'm not coming over tonight, Chloe's been a little off every since I told her I was moving out to live with you. I think we just need to spend some quality time together." Rebecca said quietly.

"Ok." Oliver smiled. "I understand." He leaned down and kissed her and Chloe shook her head. That seemed wrong but she wasn't sure why. Becca and Oliver had been dating for two years now. She shook her head as they said their goodnights and walked to her bedroom. She passed the table in the hall with all the pictures on it and stumbled a bit. She caught herself on the edge to keep from falling and looked down at a picture of Rebecca and Oliver at Bruce's birthday party. Chloe looked down at it more confused and suddenly Rebecca seemed to flicker in and out and Chloe took her place in the picture. She shook her head as her headache seemed to flare. She lost her grip and found herself on the floor as she heard glass breaking.

"Chloe!" Becca ran up with Oliver and Victor behind her. "Are you ok?"

Chloe looked around, she'd knocked a few of the pictures on to the floor when she fell and their frames broke. In every single one of them, Rebecca flickered in and out and was replaced with Chloe. She screwed her eyes shut tight. "I'll get a broom, be careful." Oliver said.

Victor helped Chloe up and brushed the glass off. "It's just this headache." Chloe said. "I must have lost my footing."

"How about you just go to bed?" Victor offered.

Chloe nodded and allowed Victor to lead her to her bedroom. She changed her clothes and laid down as she heard the mess being cleaned up. She looked on her bedside table and saw a picture of the whole group, and just as with the other pictures, Rebecca flickered and then disappeared. Chloe took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

Her dreams were fitful. She was in her room, in her apartment only everything was blurry. She blinked but it didn't help. "Chloe, something's wrong." A voice that sounded a lot like her own reverberated around the room.

"Becca." Chloe called out and ran down the hallway to Rebecca's room. She threw the door open and sighed in relief. Rebecca was asleep in her bed, but as Chloe watched the bed with Becca in it, flickered just the like pictures and vanished. It was replaced with a row of filing cabinets. Her dresser vanished and a desk took it's place.

"She doesn't belong here." The voice said. "This isn't right."

Chloe shook her head and soon everything that had been in Becca's room was gone, as if she'd never been there.

Chloe shot up in bed and reached beside her to pick up the baseball bat she kept there. She picked it up and walked down the hall to the spare room. She opened it up and gasped, just like in her dream, it was wrong. Instead of her office, it was now a bedroom. There was a dresser, a vanity, and a bed, that was holding a girl that Chloe had never met before in her life. "Becca." She whispered wondering who the hell this girl was and what she was doing in Chloe's house, in Chloe's pictures.

Becca's eyes flew open and she shot up in bed frightened. "Chloe?" She asked.

"Who the hell are you?" Chloe asked.

"What?" Becca got out of the bed slowly.

"How did you get here, how did you do this?" Chloe motioned to the furniture in the bedroom.

"How do you remember?" The girl asked. "You aren't supposed to remember."

"Remember what?" Chloe screamed.

"I'll just have to…" Rebecca lunged forward and grabbed Chloe's arm. Her vision suddenly went blurry and she shook her head as Rebecca walked back into her bedroom. "It was just Bart, raiding the fridge."

"What?" Chloe asked confused.

Rebecca laughed. "You can put down the bat."

Chloe looked and sure enough she had a bat in her hands. "What happened?"

"I don't know. You came in here with the bat saying you heard someone in the kitchen. I went to check." Becca laughed grabbing her robe. "It was just Bart."

"Oh." Chloe smiled. "He should be more careful, next time I might hit him in the head just for the fun of it."

"Well, I have to be up in twenty minutes, might as well get an early start on the day." Becca sighed. "I'll go start the coffee."

"I'll go put up the bat." Chloe blushed sheepishly.

* * *

Chloe wasn't really able to concentrate at work, the headache from the day before had come back with a vengeance and she was spending most of the day with the lights off in her office and her head on the table. "That's it." Elizabeth said. "I'm calling Rebecca to come get you."

"Who?" Chloe asked.

"Come on, I know you're upset about her moving in with Oliver but that's just mean."

"What are you talking about?" Chloe lifted her head. "Who's Rebecca and why is she moving in with Oliver?"

Elizabeth looked at Chloe and dropped the phone. "You sound like your being serious."

"I am serious." Chloe said.

"Maybe I should call Oliver instead then." Elizabeth said.

* * *

"This whole thing stopped being funny an hour ago Oliver." Chloe said as he led her into her living room. "I don't know any Rebecca, I've told you a hundred times."

"What about this?" He grabbed a picture and handed it to her.

Chloe looked at the picture confused. "Who the hell is that?"

"That's Becca." Oliver seemed worried now. "She's lived with you for three years now."

"Three years, I haven't even been here for three years. I was with Bruce until six months ago."

"Bruce Wayne?" Oliver laughed. "Why on earth would you have been with Bruce Wayne?"

"Oliver, you're really starting to scare me." Chloe said. "I don't know how you changed my pictures, or who this girl is but I do not have a roommate."

"Ok." Oliver walked to the hall. "How do you explain this?"

"My office storage?" Chloe asked when he got to the door to the guest room.

"Rebecca's bedroom." Oliver corrected her and opened the door. Sure enough it was a bedroom.

"Where are my files?" Chloe walked in the room.

"At my place, where we've always kept them." Oliver said.

"Oliver." Chloe looked up at him frightened and confused. "What's going on?" She picked up a pillow from Rebecca's bed.

"I don't know." Oliver said. "But trust me, we're going to find out."

Chloe just nodded. "Do you think…" She cut herself off. "Never mind." She walked past him and into the living room to look at the pictures. Oliver called Bart, Victor, and AC over to her apartment and they all tried to help her, reminding her of things, telling her stories. "I remember all those things, but I don't remember her." Chloe said. "She's just not there." There were unshed tears in her eyes, partly from frustration and partly from her headache that still hadn't gone away.

"I know it's my turn to do dinner but I just can't, I'm exhausted." Rebecca said walking in the room. Chloe turned around and looked at her, confusion all over her face. "Hey." She smiled. "Has that headache gone away?" Rebecca walked up and put her hand against Chloe's forehead. "You don't have a fever." Rebecca said as Chloe's vision blurred a little.

"It's probably just stress." Chloe shrugged smiling. "And you're always exhausted when it's your turn to cook diner. Don't worry I think I can whip something up quickly."

"Wait." Oliver grabbed Chloe's arm. "You remember her?"

Chloe looked between Rebecca and Oliver and laughed. "Of course I remember her, we've only lived together for three years." Oliver looked at the guys who were confused. "What's going on?"

"Chloe, you just spent the last few hours explaining to us that you'd never met anyone named Rebecca, that you didn't have a roommate."

"That's ridiculous." Chloe laughed. "She's right here."

"Yeah." Victor said. "We know. But you didn't."

"I…" She looked confused for a second. "I don't understand."

"Neither do we." Oliver said. "Maybe you should go lay down. I'm going to make an appointment for you to see Doctor Jacobs tomorrow."

"The brain guy?" Chloe said slowly. "You think something…"

"Chloe, you've probably been hit in the head more than anyone I've ever met in my life." Oliver said. "I'm saying, it's better safe than sorry when it comes to your brain."

"Right." Chloe nodded. "Maybe I should get some sleep."

Chloe walked to her bedroom, completely lost. She didn't really remember the last couple of hours, but what she remembered was not what they told her. She remembered just hanging out with her friends, talking about old times, she didn't remember denying the existence of her best friend. She looked in the mirror in her room and tried to make sense of the whole thing.

"She said she didn't remember me?" Rebecca's hurt voice carried all the way down the hall.

"Look, we're gonna figure this out. Dr. Jacobs can figure this out." Oliver said.

"What if he can't?" Rebecca asked. "What if there's nothing wrong with her brain, what if she's…" Rebecca trailed off but Chloe could finish the sentence.

What if she was going crazy, like her mom, like all the other meteor infected people she'd ever met. If she was forgetting people, things, it was possible. Chloe must have been the only person in the world who was hoping for a negative diagnosis from her a brain surgeon. Rebecca knocked on the door. "It's gonna be ok." She told Chloe as she climbed in her bed.

"How?" Chloe asked.

"We'll figure out what's wrong and we'll fix it." Rebecca said. "That's what we do."

"I'm scared." Chloe admitted. "How could I forget you?"

"I don't know." Rebecca said quietly. "But how about this. I'll be right here, all night to make sure it doesn't happen again." She grabbed Chloe's hand and Chloe smiled and closed her eyes. Rebecca sighed and closed her eyes, she'd have a long night a head of her.

Chloe woke up and Rebecca was sitting there smiling. "Do you remember me?"

"Of course I do." Chloe said rolling her eyes.

"Good then, let's have breakfast." Rebecca stood up and Chloe got up to get dressed. She pulled her clothes on then walked to the door and paused. She didn't know where to go. She looked down the hall either way and was frozen in place by the knowledge that she had no clue which way the kitchen was.

"Crap." Rebecca's voice floated down the hallway and Chloe turned to the right in relief. She followed the noises of banging pots and Rebecca's cursing until she came to a room that was completely foreign to her. This was her apartment, she knew that, but nothing looked familiar. Her kitchen cabinets were dark wood instead of white. Her countertop was a red color instead of the light blue Chloe had painstakingly picked out.

She turned around, the living room was all different. The couch was not only in the wrong place it was the wrong couch. The really comfortable, oversized cream sofa had been replaced by a sleek black leather one. Her wooden side and coffee tables that she had spent two weeks looking for were now metal and glass. "Did you buy new furniture?" Chloe asked. "Remodel?"

Rebecca turned around. "No." She said. "This is the way it's always been. You picked this stuff out."

"I did?" Chloe looked back and it really wasn't her style. "I don't think so. The kitchen…"

"God that took forever. After the three months it took to pick out the cabinets I don't even want to think of how long countertops took. And then the appliances." Chloe didn't know what to say.

"I've burned the bacon again." Rebecca said. "Could you do it?"

"Sure." Chloe grabbed the pot from Rebecca and turned to the stove and was suddenly struck with the absolute knowledge that all though she loved to cook, that she cooked all the time, she had absolutely no idea how to work the stove. She dropped the pot with a clang and turned around. "I don't really feel like bacon today. Maybe just something light."

"Right, you're doctor's appointment." Rebecca said. "Toast and cereal then. That I can definitely make."

Chloe just nodded and walked to a dining room table, that like all the other furniture was wrong. It wasn't her wooden, hand carved table, it was like the living room tables, all metal and glass. She ran her hands along the surface and tried to remember picking it out, but she couldn't. She hated it, she hated all the furniture here, this wasn't her apartment, these weren't her things. "Breakfast." Rebecca set a bowl in front of Chloe who smiled slightly. She looked down at the Rice Crispies in front of her and had to stop herself crying, she couldn't even remember if she liked this cereal.

Oliver came to pick her up an hour later and take her to Queen Industries. Her stomach was tied in knots the whole time they did the MRI and the CAT scan. They gave her short term memory tests and took blood and as she shook her leg nervously in Dr. Jacobs office Oliver placed a hand on her knee and smiled at her. "It's fine."

"You don't know that Oliver." She said. "I forgot other things today."

He looked concerned for a minute. "Rebecca?"

"No." Chloe said with relief in her voice. "I don't remember my furniture Oliver, my kitchen seems wrong, I didn't remember how to work the stove this morning."

He took his hand of her knee and tried hard not to show his worry on his face but failed. "We'll figure this out. I promise." He grabbed her hand and squeezed as Dr. Jacobs walked in.

"Well, I've got great news." He smiled. "You're all clear." He sat down. "MRI, CAT scan, everything seems perfectly normal, nothing out of the ordinary, perfectly healthy." Oliver and Chloe both frowned. "Wow that's the worst reaction I've ever had to this news."

"If it's not my head, then what is it?" Chloe asked. "Why can't I remember picking out my couch? Why can't I remember how to cook? What's going on with me?"

"That I don't know." Dr. Jacobs said. "Physically, you're perfectly healthy."

"Physically." Chloe repeated. "So that means…"

"We don't know that." Oliver said. "So don't even think about it. We'll get you home and see if maybe things have changed."

Chloe just nodded, thanked Dr. Jacobs and let Oliver lead her out of the office. They walked down to the street and her headache flared again. She stopped walking for a second and Oliver looked at her concerned. "Chloe?"

"Huh?" She looked up. "Where are we going?"

"Back to your place." Oliver said.

"Right." Chloe sighed looking around. "Where is that?"

Oliver's face seemed to pale as he just steered her down the street. "This way." He said quietly.

"I live here?" Chloe asked as they got off the elevator. "Yes, I do." She said. "I remember now." She looked around and found that her furniture was back the way it was supposed to be. Her kitchen looked right, everything was different from this morning. "I don't understand." She looked around. "This wasn't here earlier."

"What's the verdict?" Victor asked standing up and Oliver just shook his head.

"I'm a little hungry." Chloe said. "I think I'll just make some lunch." She looked around at the worried faces and then walked into the kitchen. She opened the fridge and just stared.

"Chloe?" Bart asked cautiously. "Are you ok?"

"I don't…" She turned around. "I don't' know what to eat." She picked up a carton of orange juice confused.

"You don't like orange juice." Bart said quietly. "You like apple juice."

"Right." She said putting the orange juice back and grabbing the other juice. "I knew that." She said looking around confused. Bart walked over to a cabinet and grabbed a cup down for her.

"What's happening to me?" She asked him as she took the glass from him.

"I don't know." Bart said.

"I'm not so hungry anymore." She set the glass and the juice on the counter and walked out of the room. "I think I'm going to lie down."

"I think that's a good idea." Bart said putting the juice back in the fridge.

* * *

Chloe went to her room and slept for a while. Her dreams strange, telling her that Rebecca was wrong, that she didn't exist. Chloe woke up and walked to her dresser. She picked up the picture of her and her friends and stared at it. Something was still wrong. Then just like the day before, Rebecca faded in and out then vanished. That was right now. Chloe's headache seemed to fade a little and she thought about Rebecca and couldn't find her in her memories. She remembered her from the past few days but before that she wasn't there; her headache seemed to fade more and more as she realized some things. Rebecca existed, that much was true, but not in the way everyone thought. She was here, and she was real, but Chloe didn't know her, hadn't met her until two days before when she'd walked into the kitchen. Even then, Chloe had no clue who she was until Rebecca threw her arm around Chloe.

Other things started to fall into place. She remembered now, going into Rebecca's room with the baseball bat and the girl seeming surprised that Chloe didn't know who she was, and then she remembered Rebecca grabbing her arm. "She's doing something to me." Chloe said, remembering how everything seemed ok when Rebecca felt her forehead the other day and how she held Chloe's hand while she slept. When she touched Chloe, she did something to her. She did something to all of them.

Chloe heard the elevator ding and walked out of her room. Rebecca walked in cautiously. "Does she remember me?" Rebecca asked.

"Yes, but she's forgetting other things." Oliver said.

"What did the Doctor say?" Rebecca asked.

"Nothing, she's fine, physically." Oliver told them.

"So what does that mean?" Victor asked.

"I'm not sure yet." Oliver said truthfully.

"Hey." Chloe stepped out.

"Hey." Rebecca said cautiously. "You feeling ok?"

"Great." Chloe lied. "I think I want to try my hand at diner." She looked around. "I like to cook diner right?"

"Yeah." AC smiled. "You love to cook."

"Good." Chloe said. "Rebecca, could you help, I'm still a little fuzzy on where things are."

"Sure sweetie." Rebecca smiled and Chloe made sure that she didn't let Rebecca touch her on the way to the kitchen. When they were in there, away from the others Chloe turned around.

"Who are you?" She asked.

"Chloe, not this again." Rebecca said. "I'm your roommate."

"No." Chloe said. "Let's just cut all the bullshit, and don't touch me." She said backing away from Rebecca's outstretched hand. "You didn't exist in my life until a few days ago, when they came back from the 33.1 lab in South Africa. "So what? You're a meta?"

Rebecca sighed. "Fine, have it your way." She leaned against the counter. "I hate that word, I prefer to think of myself as gifted."

"Right." Chloe said. "And what's your gift?"

"A little reality manipulation, memory modification." Rebecca said.

"So that's what happened. You changed their memories? Put yourself in them."

"Score one for the Watchtower." Rebecca laughed.

"Why?" Chloe asked.

"Why not?" Rebecca said. "I was going to go from Lex's lab straight to Oliver's, didn't seem like something I really wanted to do so I just fixed it. Made myself a part of the team made myself a part of their life."

"Why didn't it work on me?" Chloe asked confused. "What did it do to me?"

"Ah now, it took me a while to figure that out." Rebecca said. "You're power, healing. It sees my little memory changes as wounds and it fixes them, but the brain is a sensitive thing and every time I change something, it takes more effort and time for your brain to heal it, sort of messes you up a bit."

"You can't keep doing it." Chloe said. "I know now, you have to touch me and I won't let that happen. I'll tell them, I'll fix this and then what will you do?"

"Oh, I can't let that happen." Rebecca sighed. "I like it here, I like this apartment, I like my boyfriend." She wiggled her eyebrows. "And I like this life. You should be careful with the knife."

Chloe looked confused then felt something heavy in her hand. She turned and saw that she was holding a butcher's knife that wasn't there before. "This isn't real."

"It's real." Rebecca said and moved forward quickly grabbed Chloe's other wrist.

"It won't last." Chloe said. "I'll remember."

"Yeah but this one should scramble your brain long enough to buy me time." Rebecca smiled.

"Buy you time for what?" Chloe asked struggling to keep hold of her senses as her vision tried to blur.

"Time to get you out of the way."

"You can't just kill me." Chloe said. "They'll figure you out then."

"Oh I'm not going to kill you." Rebecca smiled. "See I've been in your head quite a lot in the past few days. I know just the thing to get you out of our way. The very thing that you've been afraid of for almost ten years now."

She couldn't hold it any longer and her vision blurred. When she could see again it was chaos. AC and Victor were in front of her, trying to calm her it seemed. "Put the knife down." Victor said. Chloe looked at her hand and there was the butcher's knife from before, only now it had blood on it.

"It's all right, it's not deep." Oliver was saying and behind AC she could see Rebecca holding onto her arm, there was a long gash from her shoulder to her elbow.

"Come on Chloe." AC said. "You don't want to hurt anyone else."

"No, I didn't do that." Chloe said confused. "I didn't."

"Ok." Victor said. "It's ok, just put the knife down."

She looked at the knife and set it on the counter and AC ran forward and grabbed her, pulling her arms behind her back. Victor sat her down at the kitchen table. "I didn't do that." She said looking at Rebecca. "She made me think that I…she told me something, what was it." Chloe asked frantically. "I figured it all out."

"Figured what out?" Victor asked.

"She's doing something to me, to us, but I can't remember what." Chloe said. She looked at Rebecca. "What did you do to me?"

"Me?" Rebecca pulled herself off the ground. "You stabbed me."

"No." Chloe said. "The knife wasn't there, you put it there. You did this."

"I stabbed myself?" Rebecca asked.

"Well I didn't….you told me, you did all this." Chloe said screaming. "Tell them what you did." She lunged forward and Rebecca shrunk back as AC and Victor grabbed her and pulled her back down in the chair.

"Oliver." Rebecca said. "I know we talked about this."

"I just don't think it's the right move." Oliver said.

"Yesterday maybe it wasn't the right move, but now." Rebecca indicated her bleeding arm.

"What are you talking about?" Bart asked.

"I'm talking about getting her help. The help she needs."

"What does that mean?" Bart asked cautiously. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about Serenity Farms."

"No way." Victor said.

"The Nut House?" Bart screamed.

"Rebecca, I can't do that." Oliver said. "I promised her I wouldn't let that happen."

"You know about her mom, she told you herself, all of the people with meteor powers go crazy." Rebecca said.

"She's not crazy." AC interrupted. "I don't know what's going on but she's not crazy."

"AC's right." Oliver said. "Maybe something happened; maybe it was something from the last 33.1 lab."

"Why are you taking her side?" Rebecca almost screamed.

"I'm not taking a side." Oliver said. "She's my best friend, I just want to make sure…"

"I'm your girlfriend." Rebecca said. "And she stabbed me."

"I didn't." Chloe said, everything having come back to her. "She just made me thing I did it. But I didn't." Chloe insisted. "She's not who you think she is. She's a Meta, she can manipulate reality, manufacture memories."

Chloe saw it this time because she knew she saw Oliver's eyes cloud over for a second and then he smiled. "She is a meta Chloe but that's not her powers. Rebecca moved forward, pretending to need support and grabbing onto each of the guys on her way to Chloe, she saw all of their eyes cloud then clear.

"I can move things with my mind Chloe." Rebecca said slowly as she pointed at the vase on the kitchen table and it rose in the air.

"No." Chloe said desperately. "She's not really doing that, she's just making you think she's doing it."

Rebecca turned to Oliver. "They can help her at Serenity Farms."

"I'm not crazy." Chloe pleaded with them. "Don't do this Oliver."

Rebecca made her way back to Oliver, again, leaning on each guy for support, again watching their eyes cloud over then clear. "We already decided yesterday." She said to Oliver grabbing his arm. "It was a hard decision but you made it Oliver, you said it was the best thing for her."

"It is." Oliver said. "The best thing for her."

"Oliver no." Chloe cried. "You can't do this, you have to listen to me, you have to believe me."

Oliver walked forward. "They can help you there Chloe." Oliver said.

"No." Chloe cried.

"They'll make you better." He assured her.

"Please." Chloe said sobbing now.

"Get the car Victor." Rebecca said. "The sooner we get here settled in the sooner they can start to help her."

"Victor, don't, you have to believe me. Say you believe me."

Victor just turned his head and walked away. "Bart, don't let them do this, you know deep down something's not right about this, you know it." Bart looked between Chloe and Oliver and then at Rebecca. "No." Chloe said. "Don't look at her, don't let her touch you. You know this is wrong Bart."

"Bart." Rebecca said placing a hand on his back. "You tried to help her and it didn't work, this is the only way and you know it." Bart's eyes clouded again and Chloe sobbed harder.

"It's the only way Chloe." Bart said. "To make you better."

She tried and failed the whole way to Serenity Farms to convince them they were making a mistake. She tried to get Rebecca to stop whatever she'd done, but all that got her was a shot of sedative by the staff. The last thing she remembered before she fell asleep was Rebecca giving her a hug. "Don't touch me." Chloe was mumbling.

"The medicine will help." Rebecca said. "Not you, me, you see it messes with your powers a bit, keeps them from working right, if my luck holds by tomorrow, you might even have yourself convinced you're crazy."

"No." Chloe pleaded, turning her gaze from Rebecca to Oliver. "Please don't leave me here."

He couldn't say anything as he turned away from her, ashamed. "We'll take good care of her." Dr. Richmond, Chloe's admitting Doctor told them.

"Just a forty eight hour observation right?" Oliver asked.

"That's all." Dr. Richmond said as he walked them out.

* * *

Two days later they were all seated in Dr. Richmond's office waiting for him to show up. "You think she'll be up to eating?" Bart asked. "I can go to New York and get take out from that place she likes."

"She might not be up to that yet." Oliver said. "Let's just take it slow, try not to overwhelm her at first ok."

"Fine." Bart sulked.

"Did you guys make sure the apartment was clean?" Rebecca asked.

"Everything's just how she left it." Victor said and the Doctor walked in the room smiling but not very brightly.

"So is there some paperwork I needed to sign?" Oliver asked. "Because we'd really like to get her out of her as soon as possible."

"The reason why I asked to see you guys…" The Doctor sighed and sat down. "I don't have good news."

"What?" AC asked concerned.

"I can't release her today."

"You said a 48 hour observation period that was it." Oliver reminded him.

"Well we did observe her for 48 hours and we can not in good conscious release her."

"I don't understand." Victor said.

"This is a tape our first interview." The Doctor moved his computer screen so they could all see it. It was security footage of a patient's room, Chloe's room. The first thing they noticed was that she was strapped to her bed.

"Are those necessary?" Oliver asked upset.

"When her sedative wore off, she attacked four of our orderlies." Dr. Richmond said.

Bart smiled and Oliver just nodded. Dr. Richmond pushed play.

"Chloe." Dr. Richmond said. "Are you with me now?" Chloe turned her head slowly to face the Doctor and nodded. "Good, I want to start off by talking about what happened. Do you know why you're here?"

"She put me here." Chloe said.

"She who?" Dr. Richmond asked.

"Rebecca." Chloe said.

"Let's talk about Rebecca. They said you attacked her."

Chloe scoffed. "I didn't attack her. She just made everyone think that. She can do that you know."

"She was here when they brought you in." Dr. Richmond pointed out. "I saw the bandage on her arm."

"I didn't do that." Chloe said more forcefully.

"Who did?"

"Maybe she did it to herself. Maybe it wasn't even real." Chloe said. "You don't know with her. You don't know what's real."

"Is that a problem you have?" Dr. Richmond asked. "Not knowing what's real?"

"No." Chloe said forcefully. "I know what's real, it's everyone else, she's messed everything up."

"How?"

"She changed their memories, she added herself." Chloe said. "She doesn't belong with them; she doesn't belong in their memories."

"She changed their memories, with the powers you said she had." Dr. Richmond flipped through pages in his pad. "You told us last night that she had magical powers that could mess with people's minds."

"Not magical." Chloe said. "It's not about magic." She sighed. "She's a metahuman."

"Right, that's what you called them." Dr. Richmond said. "And her powers can change memories?"

"But it didn't work on me, they didn't stick. She said it was because of my powers."

"You have powers to?" Dr. Richmond asked.

"I can heal people." Chloe said. "That was the problem." Chloe sighed. "My healing powers thought her fake memories were wounds, it tried to heal them so she couldn't fool me."

"But she fooled your friends?"

"They can't remember the truth, she's twisted it." Chloe said.

"How?"

"Their memories of her, it's not how it happened." Chloe said. "It wasn't her who did those things it was me." Chloe said. "She put herself in my spot, made them think it was her. Just like the pictures, they aren't real, she changed them."

"The pictures?" Dr. Richmond asked.

"The one of her and Oliver at the hospital benefit. She didn't go with him, that was me." Chloe said. "And the one of her and Victor at the carnival. She's holding the bear he won at the ring toss booth. But it wasn't her, I went with him to the carnival, he won me the bear."

"I see." Dr. Richmond said. "So she's substituted herself in your place in their memories."

"Yes." Chloe smiled. "The necklace she wears. The apple, Oliver gave that to me, not to her. It's my necklace. He gave it to me for my birthday."

"I saw that necklace." Dr. Richmond told Chloe. "How did she get it."

"I don't know." Chloe said. "But it's mine. His dad made it special for his mom. I didn't want to take it, but he said she'd want me to have it. He said she would have liked me." Chloe smiled at the memory. "That she was spunky just like me. There's a chip, in the stem, at the top. It was an accident. I closed it in the car door, I've been working up the courage to tell him."

Oliver tore his gaze from the screen and looked at the apple around Rebecca's neck. There was a chip in the stem of the apple. Rebecca looked at him and he turned his gaze back to the screen. "I can't be here Doctor, I have to help them, I have to stop her before…"

"Before what?" Dr. Richmond asked.

"Before she makes them forget me." Chloe whispered sadly.

"How are you going to do that?"

"I don't know." Chloe said. "But I'll do whatever it takes."

The Doctor turned the footage off and looked at all of them. "Aside from the paranoid delusions we can't be sure that she won't attack Rebecca again, she's determined to stop her from doing this memory thing."

"I don't understand though." Oliver said. "Where did all this come from? Rebecca is her best friend."

"She told me that you and Rebecca were moving in together." Dr. Richmond said. "Chloe's past has been volatile at best. She lost her mother when she was younger, then her father, and more recently her Uncle. I think that the move just hit her hard. It's like she's loosing the both of you and she doesn't know how to deal with it so she focuses the blame on Rebecca, inventing these powers as a reason to hide from the truth."

"Thank you Doctor." Rebecca said. "How much longer do you think she'll be here?"

"I can't say for sure."

"No." Bart said. "That's not Chloe." He pointed to the screen. "Not my Chloe. I want to take her home."

"Bart." Oliver said.

"You said she'd be ok." Bart screamed. "She looks worse and now they're saying she has to stay indefinitely."

"Bart has a point." Victor said.

"You think I want this?" Oliver asked. "You think I like what's happening to her."

"What do you care?" Bart said. "You were so worried how'd she take the news, you and Rebecca moving in together. Well now you're free to do that aren't you? Chloe's out of the way, makes your life easier doesn't it?"

Oliver didn't know why he did it, he didn't even realize what he'd done until it was over and Bart was on the floor wiping blood off his lip. He looked at his hand, his knuckles were throbbing and he'd realized that he'd hit him. Bart stood up and walked to the door.

"Where are you going?" Oliver asked him.

"To see Chloe." Bart said. "I can do that right Doc?" The Doctor nodded his head.

Victor and AC looked at Oliver then followed Bart out of the office. "It's ok." Rebecca said. "This isn't your fault."

"It really feels like it is." Oliver said and walked out after the guys.

Chloe was sitting at a table staring out of the window onto the garden below. "Chloe." Bart said walking slowly over to her. She turned her head and saw him and smiled. "Hey." He put his hands in his pockets.

"48 hours." Chloe said. "I've been counting." Bart frowned and so did Chloe. "What happened to you?" She stood up and touched his lip.

"Nothing." He turned away from her. "Don't worry about it."

"Did someone hit you?" Bart cut his eyes to Oliver then back to Chloe. "Why?"

"We had a little disagreement." Bart said. "About you. Look, Chloe." He grabbed her hands and led her to sit back down. "We can't take you home today."

Her smiled faded and she looked at Bart blankly. "They want to keep you here a little longer." Victor told her.

"Because I'm crazy." She said. "That's what they told me."

"You aren't crazy Chloe." AC said. "I don't know what's going on but you aren't crazy."

"Do I have powers?" Chloe asked in a whisper. "Because I think I have powers but I can't use them."

"You can heal people." Victor said. "You have such a great power."

"But they say I'm lying." Chloe said confused. "And I can't prove it, they don't work here."

"Maybe you shouldn't talk about your powers." Bart said. "People won't really understand. They'll just think…." He cut himself off.

"That I'm crazy."

"But you aren't." Victor said. "We'll come visit all the time, as much as they let us, until they come to your senses and let you out of here."

"Ok." Chloe said. "Ok." She nodded sadly at them.

Rebecca walked up. "Can I have a minute?" She asked and they all walked away. "This is better than I expected." She said.

"You did do this to me." Chloe said. "I remember that."

"Oh you know you can't trust your memory Chloe." Rebecca smiled. "But yes, I did do this, but it's working out so much better than I planned."

"I'm not crazy." Chloe breathed a sigh of relief.

"No, Chloe you aren't crazy." Rebecca said. "And that's the best part of this whole thing. You are perfectly sane, and they'll never believe it and you'll be stuck here." She grabbed Chloe's hand before she could pull away. "The medicine should keep your brain scrambled just enough to make it believable."

"I'll get out of here and I'll stop you." Chloe said.

"I really don't see that happening. We could have been friends, I wanted us to be friends. Oh well." Rebecca smiled. "Have fun won't you?"

"You can't do this." Chloe pleaded with her.

"I really can." Rebecca smiled and walked back to the guys and they all started to leave the room.

"Give me just a second." Oliver said finally and turned and walked to Chloe.

"Oliver." She smiled at him.

"I know you hate it here, I know I promised I would never let this happen, and I'm sorry."

"I don't blame you." Chloe assured him as tears formed in her eyes.

"You will get out of here." Oliver said. "You'll come home and we'll have a huge party with all your favorites."

"Will there be cake?" Chloe asked crying.

"There will always be cake." Oliver said, his own eyes tearing up. Chloe looked at him and slowly started to smile. "We'll see you later."

"There will always be cake." Chloe said quietly as they walked away and Rebecca paused looking at Chloe confused as she made sure to show Rebecca the smile she had on her face.

* * *

"Chloe, it's your turn." Dr. Richmond said and Chloe looked around. Group therapy was one of the more interesting things about Serenity Farms. At least here you got to learn about other people's problems, not just talk about your own. "I want to talk about Rebecca today."

"I'd rather not." Chloe said.

"It's been two weeks since you were admitted Chloe and you haven't talked about Rebecca since that first night." Dr. Richmond said. "When you told me that she had magical powers, powers to mess with people's memories, to change reality."

Chloe wanted to remind him that the powers weren't magical but she just smiled. "That's sounds like crazy talk Dr. R."

He smiled ruefully at her. "We don't like that word." He reminded her.

"Right." Chloe said. "Wouldn't want the crazy people to know they were crazy." Tina, Chloe's roommate laughed. Of all the people in this place, Tina was the only other person that Chloe could truly say wasn't crazy. She'd gone through a hard time, her best friend and her fiancé ran off together and eloped a few days before Tina was supposed to get married and she had a little breakdown, but she wasn't crazy, just pissed.

"Ok, so you won't talk about Rebecca." Dr. Richmond said. "What exactly does cake mean to you?"

"A yummy treat often served at parties?" Chloe smiled ruefully.

"That's a very literal definition." Dr. Richmond smiled. "But it must mean something more. For two days straight the only thing you would say over and over was cake, and then you started to improve drastically."

"Yeah well, in case the accommodations didn't clue you in…Crazy remember." Chloe said.

"You aren't crazy." Dr. Richmond told her.

"Yeah?" Chloe raised an eyebrow. "Then how come someone watches me pee?"

Tina chuckled again and Chloe smiled. "Chloe, I really don't think you're crazy."

"Well you're the only one Doc." Chloe said and turned her head to look back out the window which was generally her cue to the good Doctor that she was one talking.

"You aren't going to get out these accommodations any time soon if you don't participate in group." He reminded her.

"Really?" Chloe said. "Don't be so sure about that."

"Ok. Tina, let's move onto you." Dr. Richmond said.

He wasn't wrong Chloe thought. Cake meant a lot more to her than she could explain. Cake was a running thing for Oliver and Chloe. Cake being one of her favorite things was always used as an incentive to get Chloe to do something or a reward when she'd done something good. But it wasn't the cake itself that meant so much to her, but it was what Oliver had said. _There will always be cake_. They also used cake to represent things, to represent their friendship, the way they felt about each other.

After she mulled it over for a few days she finally figured it out, cleared her head, and realized what she had to do. Rebecca had basically just taken most of Oliver's memories of Chloe and substituted herself in them. But if that was the case, then cake would be Rebecca and Oliver's thing, not Chloe and Oliver's thing. It would mean that Rebecca was the one who told Oliver that there would always be cake, and Oliver would have no reason to say it to Chloe, no reason to think Chloe would understand what he was talking about. But somewhere deep down he did. Somewhere inside he knew that it was really Chloe who had said that to him.

After thinking it through Chloe realized something. Rebecca's powers were limited. She could rewrite memories but she couldn't completely change them. The basis of the memories were there, the feelings behind the memories couldn't be changed. So when Oliver thought about it, the memory might have been changed so that Rebecca was the one in the hotel room telling him that, but underneath it, he knew that it was Chloe, it was Chloe who had that bond with, that inside joke.

Chloe then realized another thing when they visited her the week before.

_Rebecca and Bart were icy at best with each other and AC and Victor seemed to just tolerate her and she and Oliver looked much more strained than the week before. Rebecca seemed to be a little upset that she had to be there, that they'd wanted to come at all and the look that she was shooting Chloe was obvious that she wanted nothing more than for Chloe to be dead. "Look, Dr. Richmond wants me to try something new in therapy." Chloe told them. Pretending to be nervous about the whole thing. "He thinks that a session with my friends, one at a time might help. Have a little one on one with each of you. It might help me to sort out what's real and what's not up here." She tapped her head. "So I was hoping…" _

"_Of course." Victor assured her, and the rest of them nodded, all except Rebecca._

"_Thanks." Chloe smiled. "Do you think, Victor, could you go first? Maybe next Tuesday?" _

"_I'll be here." He assured her. Chloe set up times for everyone else and then smiled at them all. _

"_Could I have a moment with Rebecca, I really need to apologize to her." _

"_Sure." Oliver smiled and kissed her on the forehead. "You look good, you sound like you're doing great." He told her. _

"_I think I'm getting there." Chloe said. They guys all said their goodbyes and left the table. Rebecca reached forward and Chloe turned and glared at her. "Don't even think about touching me." Chloe said. "Don't think for a second that I wouldn't risk two days in the solitary room just to knock you on your ass." _

_Rebecca pulled her hand back and glared. "So things don't look like their following your plan are they?" Chloe smiled. _

"_I don't know what you mean." Rebecca said. _

"_Really?" Chloe said. "I think you do. You're little plan, you never wanted to be my friend, you wanted to be me. You wanted to slowly take over my life, edge me out until you were in there. But you got rid of me Becca. You drove me crazy and got me looked up in the loony bin and still, it didn't work. They still like me better don't they?" Chloe smiled. "Even Oliver, that must put such a strain on your relationship. I heard that he postponed the big move in. Thought it would be better, for my sake, if you guys just cooled off a bit." _

"_He's worried it will push you further over the edge." Rebecca growled out. _

"_Oh." Chloe said. "Well I'm not sorry." She smiled. "You can make someone remember you, but once they get to know you Becca, it doesn't mean they're going to like you." Rebecca glared at Chloe as she smiled. _

"_I was wondering something though. If you wanted me gone, why did you go to so much trouble to put me in here when you could have just taken me out of their memories? Made them forget I even existed? Then you could have just simply taken over my life." Chloe said and Rebecca looked away. "You can't do that can you? That's what I thought. You can change memories and you can create fake ones, but you can't erase them can you?"_

"_So you figured that out, so what." Rebecca spat at her. "It doesn't mean anything." _

"_Well, that actually means a lot." Chloe said. "It means that the real memories are still in there, they've just been changed. I just need to figure out how to change them back." _

"_You won't." Rebecca said. "And even if you did, it's not like you'll be getting out any time soon." _

"_Right." Chloe said. "You've got me there." _

* * *

"Chloe. Victor's here. It's time for your solo session." Dr. Richmond interrupted her thoughts. She noticed that group was over and followed him to his office.

Victor was pacing when they walked in and he gave her a hug. "Please, sit." Dr. Richmond said. "Are you nervous?"

"A little." Victor said.

"Don't be." Dr. Richmond said.

Chloe smiled. This wasn't actually Dr. Richmond's idea, Chloe was the one who suggested it and he thought it might help her. "So what now?" Victor asked after he sat down.

"May I?" Chloe asked and Dr. Richmond nodded. "I want to apologize, first off."

"Chloe you haven't done anything to apologize for." Victor assured her.

"Oh no, not yet." Chloe said. "But I'm about to."

"What do you mean?" Victor asked.

"Conquistador." Chloe said to him and his body went limp and his head leaned forward.

"Oh no." Dr. Richmond got up and went over to Victor. "What happened? Is he sick?" He felt for a pulse.

"He's fine." Chloe said standing up and locking the door to the room. "He's just…sleeping, sort of."

"Did you…" Dr. Richmond saw her turn the lock on the door and stood up. "What are you doing?"

"I'm really sorry about this Dr. Richmond." Chloe said. "But there isn't another way." She reared back and hit him the face, sending him sprawling to the ground.

When he woke back up he was tied to his chair and Chloe was at his desk typing on his computer. "What's going on? What did you do to him?"

"He's fine, well he will be, once I fix him." Chloe said typing rapidly.

"How did you…put him to sleep? That word."

"It was a trigger, to shut down his system."

"Like hypnosis?" The Doctor asked.

"No, more like a reboot." Chloe looked up. "He's half computer."

"Half computer?" Dr. Richmond said.

"Yeah, there was an accident, they rebuilt him with machine parts, it's all very "Six Million Dollar Man"." Chloe said plugging something in the computer and then carrying the wire over to Victor. She pulled up his sleeve and plugged the cord into his arm.

"Oh God." Dr. Richmond watched everything with interest. Chloe walked to the computer and hit enter. Victor's head snapped up and his left eye glowed red for a second. "What…"

"Emergency Reboot activated." Victor said. "Awaiting instructions."

"Recover from last back up date." Chloe said.

"Recovery in progress." Victor said almost mechanically. "Recovery complete."

"Query subject Sullivan, Chloe." Chloe asked.

"Sullivan, Chloe." Victor said. "Restricted file, security clearance level five required, access code requested."

Chloe seemed to sigh in relief. "Query subject Sanders, Rebecca." Chloe said.

Victor's eye glowed again. "Subject Sanders, Rebecca not found."

Chloe seemed to take a deep breath. "Restart systems."

Victor suddenly blinked and looked around confused. "Chloe." He asked. "Where are we?"

Chloe smiled and ran to hug him. "Thank God."

"What just happened here? Why is that man tied up?" Victor asked and then looked at his arm. "What's going on? Did you…"

"I'm sorry but I had to." Chloe said. She explained everything that had happened to her, that happened to them, about Rebecca.

"I don't know any Rebecca." Victor said. "I swear."

"I know." Chloe said. "But yesterday you did." Chloe reminded him. "I had to do something and I figured out if I reset your system to a time before you met her, before you guys found her at the 33.1 lab, it would erase what she did to you."

"It worked." Victor said pulling the plug out of his arm.

"I'm sorry." Dr. Richmond said. "But are you saying that what you told me is true?" He looked between the two of them. "She really does have powers; she can alter your memories, your reality?"

"Yes." Chloe sighed.

"Dear God." He sat back in his seat.

"Was it really a good idea to have him in on all this?" Victor asked.

"I had to." Chloe shrugged. "I needed his computer and I needed him to realize that I wasn't crazy."

"No." Dr. Richmond said. "I suppose you aren't."

"Can you fix the others?" Victor asked.

"I think so." Chloe said. "Rebecca said that it didn't work on me because my power was healing her memories, treating them like a wound. So if I just heal the others."

"Let's go then."

"No." Chloe said. "I don't want Rebecca to know that you know." Chloe said. "I can't leave just yet or she'll suspect something."

"You're going to stay here?" Victor asked.

"I can do anything now anyway. The medication he had me on, it interfered with my powers. I need to get it out of my system before I do anything." Chloe turned to him. "Will you help me?"

Dr. Richmond just nodded, trying to take everything in. Chloe walked over and untied him. "I'm really sorry about this, but you had to see."

"Yes, I did." Dr. Richmond said. "I guess I should apologize to you."

"It's cool." Chloe said. "If I didn't know what I knew and someone showed up talking about powers and altering memories I would think they were crazy too."

"Yes." Dr. Richmond smiled and stood up.

"I need you to go back." Chloe said to Victo. "Pretend like nothing's changed, like you've known Rebecca for years."

"I'm just supposed to…"

"Yes." Chloe said. "Until I get the meds out of my system and I can fix the others."

"You'll be ok here?" Victor asked. "I know you hate this place."

"Well, if I can get Dr. Richmond to put me on sugar pills, my mind should stay clear, and then we can take care of Rebecca." Victor said.

* * *

A week later Chloe was in the arts and crafts room. She still had to go to group, she still had to go to craft time but at least now Dr. Richmond believed her, he didn't treat her like a crazy person. He immediately took her off the meds and they spent their allotted solo therapy sessions with him asking her questions and her telling him about Metas.

"Crap." Tina said and Chloe walked over to her.

"What?" She asked concerned.

"Just a paper cut." Tina held out her hand. Dr. Richmond walked over and held a rag to it to stop the bleeding.

"Let me see." Chloe grabbed Tina's hand and there was a small light as the paper cut disappeared. Chloe smiled. "Must not have been as bad as you thought."

"There's nothing there." Tina said confused. "But there's blood on the rag."

"It must just be too small for you to see." Chloe said but she was smiling at Dr. Richmond. "A lot of blood for such a little cut."

Tina shrugged and went back to work. "You're really telling the truth." Dr. Richmond said.

"You still weren't sure?" Chloe smiled and grabbed the rag from him, putting it on her hand to cover a cut in the same place that Tina's was.

"I guess, not completely." He smiled sheepishly at her. "But it looks like you got your powers back."

"I guess it's time then." Chloe said.

"I'll make the phone call." Dr. Richmond nodded.

"Thank you." Chloe said. "For everything."

"Don't thank me yet." Dr. Richmond said. "Not until it's done."

Chloe just nodded.

The next day everyone was once again sitting in Dr. Richmond's office. "You think this is a good thing?" Bart asked. "You said she was doing much better when you came last week."

Victor just smiled. "I don't know."

"Maybe they're letting her come home." AC offered.

"That would be great." Oliver said and looked at Rebecca. "Don't you think?"

"Fantastic." She said through clenched teeth.

"Hello." Dr. Richmond smiled walking in the room. "Thank you all for coming."

"What's going on Doc? Is she cured, can she come home?"

"Chloe's fine." Dr. Richmond said. "But she's not cured." He told them.

"What do you mean?" AC asked.

"I couldn't cure her, because there was nothing wrong with her." Dr. Richmond sat down.

"Nothing wrong with her?" Oliver said confused. "What about all that stuff she said when she got here?"

"That was the truth." Chloe said and they all turned to see her at the door. "Every last word of it."

Victor smiled and stood up. "Grab her, so she can't touch anyone." Chloe said.

Victor nodded and pulled Rebecca's arms behind her back and Oliver jumped up. "What's going on?" He asked.

"Oliver." Chloe said and he turned to Chloe. "I need you to trust me ok, can you do that?"

Oliver looked at Rebecca who was struggling against Victor and Chloe who was pleading with him. "Yes." He said. Chloe smiled and Victor shoved Rebecca into the same chair that Chloe had tied Dr. Richmond up in.

"Don't move, and don't even think about touching me." Victor said.

Chloe walked up to the guys and smiled. "Trust me." She said to Oliver and he smiled and nodded and Chloe reached out and grabbed either side of his head, closing her eyes. Her hands started to glow and when they were done she pulled away. Oliver looked at Chloe confused for a second.

"Oliver, don't believe what she says." Rebecca told him.

"I remember now." Oliver said slowly. "You were in one of the labs." He turned to the others. "We saved her from the lab and carried her outside and then it becomes a blur."

"She used her power on you." Chloe said. "She didn't want to get put in another lab so she put herself in your memories instead."

"What is she talking about?" AC asked.

Chloe looked at Oliver. "Go ahead." Chloe walked over and healed him too. Then she moved onto Bart.

"Victor." Chloe said. "I don't have a lot of time, it's gonna hit me soon."

"What is?" Dr. Richmond asked.

"When she heals people, she takes their wounds from them."

"Like the paper cut." Dr. Richmond said.

"Yes." Chloe smiled. "Like the paper cut." She squeezed her eyes shut as the headache started. "So I'm going to take all the memories I took from you guys and that might make me a little…crazy." She said.

"Right." Oliver nodded.

"What do we do with her?" AC asked as Rebecca just glared at them.

"Well, Dr. Richmond." Chloe said. "If you keep her on medication, she can't use her powers. I think it would be best for everyone if she got the help she needed."

"I don't need any help." Rebecca said.

"You don't?" Chloe smiled. "You tried to take over my life. That doesn't really sound like the work of a sane person. What do you think Doctor?"

"No." Doctor Richmond said. "It doesn't."

"Don't." She said. "Oliver, help." She pleaded with him. "You can't let them do this."

"I really can." Chloe smiled before frowning as the headache got worse. "I believe this is mine." She reached out and pulled the necklace from Rebecca's neck. "Don't go near here until you've given her the meds Doc." Chloe reminded him.

"I'm on it." He pulled a syringe out of his desk drawer and walked to Rebecca.

* * *

They took Chloe home and after a good nights sleep all the memories were purged from her system. She walked to her spare room and opened the door. Her file cabinets were they were supposed to be, Rebecca's room was gone, the pictures all back to normal, the medication must have kept her from keeping up her illusions as well as stopping her from altering memories.

She was sitting on her balcony drinking coffee when there was a cough from behind her. She turned to see Oliver and smiled. "Hey."

"Hey." Oliver said a little sheepishly.

"Come join me." She nodded to the seat next to her.

Oliver walked over slowly and sat down. "Can you ever forgive me?" He asked her, his eyes full of sorrow.

"For what?" Chloe asked confused.

"I promised you, I swore that I wouldn't let that happen to you. And then I put you in that place." He said.

"It wasn't your fault." Chloe said to him smiling. "You had no control over it."

"I could have fought it, fought the memories." Oliver said. "I knew something was wrong. It just didn't feel right, me and Rebecca."

"You couldn't have fought them, no one could." Chloe said.

"You did." Oliver reminded her.

"Yeah well I'm a little extraordinary." She joked. "Plus you know, the whole healing power thing."

"I still feel horrible about it." Oliver said.

"There's no reason for you to feel like that. I don't blame you for anything." She told him.

"Yeah well it's not gonna stop me from blaming myself." He told her.

"Well, you want to make it up to me?" Chloe asked.

"Yes." Oliver said. "If there's anything I can do…"

"Well I remember you telling me something about a coming home party." Chloe smiled. "With cake."

"Cake I can do." Oliver said. "I can give you cake for a lifetime if that's what it'll take."

Chloe smiled and hugged him. "I missed you." She told him.

"God." He hugged her back. "I missed you too."

"Well we're back to normal now." Chloe said pulling away. "I suggest we put the whole thing behind us huh?"

"That sounds great."

"There's just one thing I have to do." Chloe said. "I want to go visit her."

"Do you think that's a good idea?" Oliver asked.

"I need to." She told him.

"I'll go with you." Oliver grabbed her hand and squeezed.

Doctor Richmond led them to the common room where Rebecca was sitting in the same chair that Chloe had sat in two weeks before, looking out the same window, with the same vacant expression on her face. Chloe sat down while Oliver stood protectively behind her. "Hello Rebecca." Chloe smiled.

"What do you want?" Rebecca spat at her. "Come to gloat?"

"No." Chloe shook her head. "I really hope they can help you here."

"I don't need help." Rebecca said. "I'm going to get out of here. And when I do, I'll do much worse than before."

"Chloe, this isn't doing any good." Oliver told her.

"You were right about one thing Rebecca." Chloe said as she stood up. "If you had been straight with us from the start, we probably could have been friends."

Rebecca just glared at her as she walked to Doctor Richmond. "I want to thank you for doing this." Chloe said as he walked them to her car.

"It's my job." He told her. "If I can ever help you again…this is still very new to me but…just don't hesitate to ask."

"I won't." Chloe smiled. "We come across a lot of people like her in our line of work and we're never quite sure what to do with them." Chloe said. "We can't just hand them over to the authorities."

"I'll help you however I can." He assured her.

"Thanks." Chloe said.

"Thanks for everything." Oliver added as they got in the car. "So where to now?"

"Oh I believe you owe me a cake." Chloe smiled. "Chocolate, with chocolate icing." She said. "And maybe even chocolate sprinkles."

"Really?" Oliver asked.

"Hey I deserve it."

"Yes you do." He said to her.


	17. Chapter 17

A/N: Here it is, the chapter you guys have been waiting somewhat patiently for. Chloe and Oliver finally get together, and personally one of my favorites. I debated putting this chapter up because I don't have the ones that come after this completely finished yet so it might take a few days for another update so enjoy it and savor it and don't kill me if I don't have something posted by tomorrow.

* * *

Christmas time in Smallville always held particularly fond memories for Chloe. She remembered her and her dad celebrating by themselves, bundled up in the house as it snowed outside. Then there were the years after her dad passed and she would go to the Kent's. Martha always made Chloe feel like she was at home, making sure to let her know she wasn't intruding. She remembered bundling herself up in fifteen layers of clothing to take the hayride tour of lights through town and then walking frozen into the Talon with Clark and Lois begging for hot chocolate so their fingers didn't fall off. Smallville at Christmas was white and clean with garland on street lamps and wreaths on shop doors, there were makeshift snowmen on the sidewalk and groups of people walking huddled together to keep warm. What she was looking at now, climbing out of the car Oliver rented was not Christmas in Smallville. 

"It's like eighty degrees out here." AC said taking off his jacket and stowing it in the car.

"Where is my snow?" Chloe asked. "Where's my cold breeze?" She looked around. People were walking down the street, chatting happily in short sleeves, no jackets. There were still wreaths on doorways and garland on street lamps put they seemed strange and out of place in this hot city.

"What's the opposite of winter wonderland?" Victor asked looking around.

"Yeah it's a Christmas Heat wave." Lois said as she walked forward to greet them. "Clark's been complaining about it all week."

"It's a week before Christmas, I don't like this." Chloe said cautiously.

"Well join the club. It doesn't feel like Christmas at all, they aren't even serving hot chocolate at the Talon." Lois frowned. "And they might have to cancel the hay ride because not enough people put up lights this year."

"This sucks." Chloe said. "I can't believe it."

"Don't get your panties all up in a bunch." Lois said. "We're still doing all those Christmas type things we used to do; I'm determined to make this a happy holiday if it kills me."

"Good." Chloe said. "I'm right there with you." She smiled and even though she wasn't looking she could tell that the guys all made faces. "Let's get to the Farm. Clark has something he wants to talk to Oliver about and I haven't seen Ms. Kent in ages." Lois agreed and Chloe rode with her as the boys followed in Oliver's car.

"So, real family Christmas in Smallville." Lois said. "It's been a while."

"I know." Chloe sighed. "When Oliver told Lex we were coming, I knew it was just to get a rise out of him, and I wasn't sure I even wanted a Christmas in Smallville, but now that we're here, I'm really excited."

"Well I'm glad you're here." Lois said. "I know we caught up a little when you got back but it's not the same as just hanging out."

"We'll be doing a lot of that." Chloe smiled. "I have a feeling I'm going to be the lone crusader for Christmas back at the loft. We need a tree and decorations and stockings and presents."

"Hey, shopping is one of the things that I do best." Lois smiled as they pulled into the Farm. Chloe jumped out of Lois car and ran up the steps to the house, it didn't matter that it was almost ninety degrees; Ms. Kent wasn't going to let that stop Christmas. She had her lights up and her garland and her decorations and the inside was just a Christmassy.

"No this is Christmas." Chloe said inhaling the scent of cinnamon and apples.

"Chloe?" Martha said walking into the room. "I can't believe you're here." She gave the girl a hug, one of those hugs only a mom can give and Chloe just sunk into it.

"I'm so happy to be here to." Chloe assured her.

"Come in." Martha ushered them into the kitchen and Chloe followed her. "I'm just putting together my shopping list for Christmas dinner, I guess I need to double it."

"Bart's here." Chloe said.

"Quadruple it." Martha laughed.

"Ms. Kent…" Chloe said hesitantly. "Would you mind if I…I mean tell me if I'm stepping on your toes or something. But would you mind if I cooked Christmas dinner?"

Martha looked at Chloe for a minute, surprise, hesitancy, relief on her face. "She's an awesome cook Ms. K." Lois said.

"Why would you want to do that? You'd end up spending all day cooking." She said confused.

"I know, which does not sound like a bad thing to me, trust me. But I've never done it before and I'd really like to." Chloe said. Ms. Kent still looked unsure. "Plus, I dropped like five more people on you at the last minute, eight if you count how much Bart eats, including one with a highly sensitive peanut allergy which I'm used to cooking for already."

"I didn't think about that." Martha said. "If you're sure you don't mind."

"It would be my pleasure." Chloe assured her. "If you'll still make desert."

"Of course." Martha smiled. Kara came down and the girls caught up in the kitchen while the men had their little pow wow in the barn.

A few hours later Oliver knocked on the door to the kitchen and interrupted what sounded like a very amusing story. "Hello ladies." He smiled and they all started laughing again. "We're you talking about me?"

"No." Chloe stood up and walked over to him. "Of course we weren't."

He looked at all their faces confused. "You were." He said. "You didn't tell them…" He leaned down and whispered. "The Lone Ranger story did you?"

"Why would I do that?" Chloe asked, a smirk on her face.

"Hey cowboy." Lois called out. "Where's Tonto."

"You told them?" Oliver practically squeaked.

"Calm down cowboy." Lois said.

Oliver opened his mouth and Chloe turned him around to face the living room. "Did you need something?" He looked back in the kitchen and Lois made the gun sign with her hands and mimed shooting him. Chloe turned and glared at Lois so she sat down. "Oliver?"

"Yeah, we need to head back."

"It's early still." Chloe said confused.

"We've got some business we need to do and Martha is having a diner party tonight. She didn't need us in her way."

"Business?" Chloe asked. "Why are you being so secretive?" She asked. "Everyone here knows."

"Plausible deniability." Oliver told her. "You taught me that."

Chloe just nodded and said her goodbyes. "Shopping later?" Chloe asked.

"I'll meet you at the Talon?" Lois said. "Eight o'clock."

"Got it." Chloe said.

* * *

The ride back to the city was long and quiet and Chloe couldn't' figure out what was so secretive that he couldn't just tell her on the farm. They got in the penthouse and she set her bags down. "What's going on?" Chloe asked. "What's the big deal?" She asked getting a sort of bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. Oliver motioned for everyone to sit down. 

"I don't get it." Victor said. "You aren't normally the stealthy break in and steal something kind of thief." Victor sat down with his sandwich and smiled at Oliver.

"Yeah." AC laughed. "You're more the showy, out in the open steal something kind of thief."

"Could we quit calling me a thief?" Oliver asked. "I know that this isn't our normal every day sort of deal, with the stealing and the crime." He pointed out. "But it's important; it's a favor, for Clark."

"Why didn't you just say so?" Bart asked. "I'll go grab it now."

"No." Oliver shook his head. "This is a little more delicate than what you used to do." He looked around the table. "We can't let Lex know it's been taken."

"Won't it kind of be obvious when the display case is empty?" AC asked.

"We're replacing it with a fake." Oliver said. "A really good, very expensive fake."

"This is very Indiana Jones." Bart rubbed his hands together.

"More Ocean's Eleven." Victor said motioning to the security manifest, blueprints, and even surveillance photos thanks to Clark that surrounded the walls of the meeting room.

"Regardless of what movie this reminds you of, it's very real, and very serious." Oliver said. "According to Clark, bad things will happen if Lex figures out how to open it."

Chloe looked up and saw the picture of their target. It was a small silver box with etchings on it, definitely Kryptonian; she wondered how in the world Clark had let Lex get his hands on it in the first place. "What's the plan?" She asked. They turned to her startled. It was the first time she'd spoken since they started.

"Clark is extending an Oliver Branch, well the illusion of an Oliver Branch. Lionel, Clark, Martha, Lex, and Lana will all be having a Christmas dinner together, tonight. That's when we'll go in." Oliver said. "We're going to have to be very stealthy about this, so Impulse and I will be on lookout while you and Chloe take care of the rest."

"You want me to take care of the security system?" Victor asked.

"The security system and the vault." Oliver pulled up a schematic of some kind. "After Clark ruined the one that he had, Lex put in a new state of the art, completely electronic vault in the basement. Do you think you can get it open?"

"No problem." Victor said looking over the plans.

"What about me?" AC asked.

"You're going to stake out the Kent's." Oliver said. "Alert us in case Lex decides to leave early."

"No problem." AC said.

"Chloe, I want you with Victor, two computer genius' are better than one as far as I'm concerned."

"Sounds like a plan." Chloe said a little unenthusiastically.

AC and Bart started to go over the plans to Lex's house as Victor studied the vault system. Oliver followed Chloe out of the room frowning. "Hey." He called after her. "You ok?"

"This is why you wanted to have Christmas in Smallville? You had to have known about this long before tonight, maybe at Bruce's party, to have the fake ready." Chloe asked and when Oliver didn't say anything she took that as a yes. "Ok." She turned and started to walk away but was stopped by Oliver's hand on her arm.

"Hey." He turned her around. "What's going on?"

"Nothing." She sighed. "I just thought, well I thought you really wanted a family Christmas. I actually got a little excited when Lana was talking about the hay ride and the tour of lights. It's silly."

"No it's not silly." Oliver said. "I'm sorry. Christmas wasn't really a big thing for me. I mean we had a lot of money so there was no doubt I would get presents, my parents were always away and then when they died. I forget that it's more than just a day to other people."

"I didn't realize." Chloe blushed.

"No it's my fault." He coughed uneasily. "Look, we can still do that, have our own family Christmas. We'll do this one thing, and then it'll be Christmas trees and eggnog and wrapping presents and mistletoe."

"Really?" Chloe seemed to brighten at this.

"Really." Oliver said.

* * *

They decided they'd be much less conspicuous in civilian clothes so they didn't gear up for this particular mission, which admittedly felt a little strange at first. The only security they had to worry about were two out front, and they by passed those easily enough. Lex was still too arrogant to have the kind of security he really should. As soon as Victor disabled the security system Bart was off, finding the inside guards and giving their location to Oliver as Chloe and Victor made their way to the basement. 

Chloe stood by impatiently, the list of things she had yet to get done for Christmas weighing more heavily on her mind than the breaking and entering currently going on. "I'm in." Victor said and started unlocking the vault. They stood back when he finished the door opening. "This is like in Die Hard, the first one, when the vault opens slowly and the bad guys stand there waiting, too bad we don't have Christmas music playing in the background." Victor said.

"Or the third, when the girls coming out of the vault from the other side." Chloe smiled. "I love Die Hard, how bad ass is Bruce Willis?"

Victor grinned as the doors finished and they stared into the vault, the smiles fading from their face. "Shit, this is so not like Die Hard."

"We've got a problem." Victor said through his com system.

"What kind of problem?" Oliver asked.

"A late edition to security." Victor answered.

"What?"

"You need to see it." Victor shook his head. "Bring Impulse, we might need him."

"We're on our way." Oliver said.

Oliver and Bart stared into the vault and then looked at Victor. "This wasn't on the schematics? The security manifest?"

"No." Victor said. "It must be new."

Oliver turned back into the vault and stared at the hundred thin criss crossing lasers that covered every conceivable space in no apparent pattern. Chloe was just standing there staring, she hadn't said a word. "You can't hack it?"

"It's an isolated system, probably activated by remote control." Victor nodded to the box that was three quarters of the way up the wall. "The only way to do it without the remote is from inside the room."

"Can Bart do it?" Oliver asked. "He's faster than the laser sensors right?"

"Maybe." Victor said. "I looked up the schematic to the system, to disable it you need to stand there and disconnect a wire for exactly three minutes to reset everything."

"I'll call AC have him check Luther's stuff for the remote." Oliver pulled out his phone. "Chloe?" He paused. "What do you think?"

"I can do this." Chloe turned around and took off her jacket, handing it to Victor.

"Do what?" He asked.

"Get to the box." Chloe said quickly braiding her hair down her back and tucking it into her shirt.

"Through those?" Oliver asked nodding to the lasers.

"I found a path." Chloe said as she leaned forward and grabbed the ground, stretching.

They all turned to look through the vault opening where Chloe had, they couldn't see a path, they could just see lasers.

"A path?" Oliver asked turning back to Chloe.

She stood up and stretched her arms and then leaned back until her hands touched the ground and she arched her back. She flipped herself over and stood up to stretch her legs out. "Trust me. I've done this before, well something like it." She smiled at him and he looked at Victor who shrugged. She took off her shoes and set them on the ground before walking to the door and taking a deep breath.

"You sure you can do this?" Oliver asked one last time and Chloe nodded, breathing deeply, centering herself, calming her nerves, she hated that Bruce was always right.

"_How is this supposed to help me again?" Chloe asked. _

_  
"Problem solving, thinking on your feet, you have to be prepared for anything and everything." Bruce replied. "Trust me, everything I teach you here, you'll use somehow." _

_  
"That's what my algebra teachers used to say and as of yet, I've never once needed to find the use any of it." Chloe said tucking her hair into her shirt and pulling off her shoes._

"_Get the bottle." Bruce said pointing a glass bottle balanced precariously on a small ledge in the stone wall. "Without ringing a bell or breaking the bottle." _

_Chloe looked in the cave and sighed. The whole room was filled with intersecting strings it looked like a game of Cat's Cradle gone horribly wrong. On every string however there were at least ten small bells attached. "Hell." Chloe said rolling her shoulders. Bruce sat in a chair and opened a book. _

"_Go." He said. _

_Chloe made it two feet before tangling herself up hopelessly and ringing every single bell. "Again." Bruce said as Alfred helped her out. Five hours later Bruce came in holding a plate with a sandwich on it and stopped watching as Chloe wove her hand underneath a string, flattened herself against the floor then pulling herself up some, she was still only about two feet into the maze. She pulled her lower hand out and up carefully and weaved through three more strings and a shoulder grazed a string tinkling a bell. _

_Bruce picked up the sandwich and took a bite. "Again." He said settling into his chair and picking up his book as Chloe made her way out of the tangle, not bothering to avoid the strings or bells. _

_She didn't get the bottle the first day, or the second day, partly because Bruce had changed around all the strings "Again" was all he would say to her. She had gotten used to the tangle, started to work out which way to go, which way not to go, that's why he changed it he said. Two weeks later she had made it to the wall but could not start to climb without setting a bell off._

"_It's impossible." She said staring at the mess and Bruce jumped out of the chair he was sitting in and stared at the strings. Forty five minutes later without a sound Bruce stood in front of Chloe with the bottle smiling. "Show off." She said as he turned around and climbed through the ropes to put it back up in its cove. _

_He sat back down in his chair and picked up his book. "Again." _

_By month number two Chloe was getting closer to the bottle. She'd almost had it five times by now and she was sure this time she'd get it. Her fingers were mere inches away and she grabbed it, letting out a triumphant cry. "You've got to get down." Bruce reminded her and two minutes later he heard a bell tinkle in the distance. "Again." _

_It took another two weeks before Chloe managed to proudly produce the bottle to Bruce, a satisfied smile on his face. He nodded behind her and she turned to find another bottle, higher up, on a different cave wall. "Again." _

Oliver was standing beside her. "I trust you, I do, but there are no second chances here, you mess up that's it." He reminded her. "People practice for months, sometimes years to get through these things."

"Like Catherine Zeta Jones." Bart said. "In that movie with the old guy."

Chloe turned him glaring. "That old guy." She said through clenched teeth. "Was Sean Connery, only the greatest James Bond ever." She turned to Oliver. "Can we get him some movies made before 1995 please?"

"Chloe focus." Oliver said. "He's right, in the movie, by the time they got to the place she could do it blindfold."

"You want me to do it blindfolded? I can do it blindfolded." She joked and he sighed. "I'll be fine." She assured him. She looked in the vault and mentally went over her path one more time.

_When she was sure she'd mastered the retrieve-the-bottle-through-the-maze drill Bruce switched it up. He stood her in front of the strings, showed her the location of the bottle and smiled. "You have one try." He told her. "Then I switch up the strings, twenty minutes to find a path and go." He said. _

"_One try?" Chloe turned to him. _

"_One." Bruce said as Chloe stared at the maze and sighed, looking for a way to the bottle. Her first try was a disaster; bells went off within ten minutes. Bruce pulled wires down and changed it all up. "Again." He said sitting back down. It took her three more months but finally she managed it, somehow, staring at the strings, getting constantly tangled up in them allowed her to find the holes, know where she would hit dead ends, where she would find openings. _

She stepped forward, cautiously and started the route she'd found for herself. She tried to calm herself, using the exercised the monks taught her, block out all noise and distractions but it was difficult with the peanut gallery behind her. "She's gonna hit the one of the left." Bart said.

"No she won't." Victor scoffed.

"Who needs Catherine Zeta Jones?" Bart smiled excitedly.

"Please tell me you're recording this." Victor turned to Oliver and nodded at his Green Arrow sunglasses. "AC is not going to believe it." They all turned their necks to the side to watch Chloe bend at a very odd angle, missing the one of the left by inches.

"Been recording since she went in." Oliver said. "Does she look really close that that one there?" He pointed looking worried and Chloe froze, bent at a strange angle. "Did you hit one?" Oliver asked.

"No." Chloe said. "But I'm finding it hard to concentrate with the running commentary."

"Sorry." They all said sheepishly and Chloe resumed her path to the box. Thirty minutes later she was balanced precariously on one foot, hanging off of a small table, her hand hovering over the control box. She slowly pulled the cover off and was greeted with a jumble of wires. "Which wire?" She asked.

"The red one." Victor said. "Exactly three minutes, any more, any less, the alarm goes off."

"Time it." Chloe said. "One two three." She pulled the wire out and stood there.

"Can you stand like that for three minutes?" Oliver asked concerned.

_Bruce pressed on with the strings, Chloe was getting bored of them now, they were too easy, but that was the point, they were supposed to become easy, supposed to become habitual. Until one day Bruce screwed with that too. "Freeze." He said and Chloe stopped all movement, her hand outstretched above her head, her foot a little bit off the ground. _

"_I didn't ring a bell. " She protested. _

"_I know." He smiled. _

_Chloe didn't move, didn't continue forward, she stood there frozen until her foot gave out and it feel to the ground. "Again." Bruce said. And so another part of the training started. Chloe never knew when he would say freeze or when he would let her unfreeze and it was the first time since she'd gotten back that she resumed her nightly ice baths. Her muscles killing her. The freezes went on longer and longer, Bruce going back up to the house for lunch at times and coming back to find Chloe in the exact same spot._

_When he was sure she'd managed to master all she could involving the strings he let her go, said she was done, that she'd never have to see a string with a bell on it again. _

"_I'm never going to use this in my life." Chloe said marveling at the loss of six months of training. It wasn't a total loss, she had to admit that she was much more nimble and bendy now; she could probably squeeze herself under a door way if the need ever arose._

"_A hundred bucks says you do." He smirked at her. _

"I'll be fine." Chloe said letting out a breath. "Oh Victor, I sort of volunteered us to do Christmas dinner." Chloe smiled sheepishly. "It's still gonna be at the farm but Ms. Kent doesn't need to spend all day cooking and I've never got to do a full Christmas meal before."

"Sounds good to me." Victor smiled. "You know I could spend all day cooking."

"And I could spend all day eating." Bart smiled. "Why isn't that an option?"

"How many people?" Victor asked ignoring Bart.

"Lois, Clark, Ms. Kent, Kara, You, Me, Bart, AC, Oliver."

"Not too bad." Victor said. "We can go over the menu tonight and then shop tomorrow. I have a few things I've been wanting to try out."

"Not that I don't love it when you guys create all those fancy dishes, I love it, I never ate so well before in my life. But there will be Turkey right? What's Christmas without Turkey?"

"Of course we'll do Turkey." Chloe said. "What do you take us for?"

"Honestly." Victor shook his head at Oliver and he smiled. "And five, four, three, two, one." Chloe slipped the wire back in and the lasers flickered then went out.

"Sounds like someone's getting in the spirit." Chloe said. "Turkey and eggnog, oh…" She turned to Victor and looked as if she was contemplating something. "Nah." She shook her head as Victor set to work on disabling the system around the display case.

"I have to admit, having the tree up and the lights, I'm getting a little excited." Oliver said.

"Go." Victor nodded and Oliver lifted the glass surrounding the pedestal and Bart pulled the fake box from his back pocket, very quickly removing the real one and replacing it with the fake, they all froze, waiting for an alarm and Chloe had to admit she did feel very Indiana Jones and couldn't help looking behind her for a large boulder. Oliver sighed and lowered the glass as Victor reset the security panel. "Good job." He smiled at them all.

Victor somehow managed to reconfigure the laser system so he could turn it on from the outside and they locked up, leaving everything the way they found it. They walked down the street Bart tossing the box from hand to hand before Chloe snatched it out of mid-air and glared at him. "The dinner should be over by now." Oliver checked his watch as they walked down the street. "It's still not cold."

"Stupid freaky heat wave." Chloe shrugged. "Normally we'd be covered in snow."

"I'm not complaining." Bart smiled.

"Where have you been?" Lois' voice caught them of guard. "You said to meet at the Talon at eight." She jogged down the street toward the group. "I've been here for thirty minutes, I'm not the one that has last minute shopping, you are remember? If you want to get anything done we've got to start now."

"I totally forgot." Chloe sighed. "I'm so sorry. I'll catch up with you guys later." Chloe said.

"No problem." Oliver smiled as Lois dragged her off. She passed a recycle bin and stopped.

"Wait." Chloe said to Lois. "Just a second." She picked up a root beer bottle and made sure it was dry. "Do you have a hundred on you?"

"Yeah sure, I'm not the multi billionaire." Lois pointed out.

She jogged up to Oliver. "You got a hundred?"

He nodded pulling it out of his pocket and handed it to her. She stuffed it in the bottle. "Can you do me a favor Bart?"

"Anything." He stood up straighter.

"Run this to Bruce Wayne for me; tell him a bet is a bet." Chloe sighed.

"Sure thing." He winked and then was gone. Oliver just smiled as she ran back to Lois.

"How does he get away with that in public?" Lois wondered out loud.

"Because he's Bart." Chloe shrugged.

"So let me guess." Lois wove her arm in Chloe's. "You were late because you were out saving the world from certain disaster."

"That's more Superman's gig isn't it?" Chloe smiled. "Actually we were doing a little breaking and entering, at Lex's." Chloe pulled the box out of her pocket. "Can you give that to Clark for me?"

"You got it?" Lois said looking at the box and smiling. "He's been freaking out over this thing."

"Call it a Christmas gift." Chloe said.

"That is so not fair, while I'm having to force my way through dinner with the devil and his creepy drone of a wife, you were out breaking into vaults and being all Mission Impossible." Lois pouted.

"We'd let you tag alone you know but we'd read about it in the planet the next day." Chloe said. "Don't even try to deny it."

"I wasn't going to." Lois smiled.

"Lois Lane." Chloe said. "Never found a story she wouldn't print."

"Hey." Lois bristled. "I happen to be sitting on six of the biggest stories in the world, have been for more three years now."

"I know." Chloe said. "Enough shop talk. Let's go spend lots of money."

"Yeah." Lois headed into a shop and Chloe followed suit.

* * *

"Ok." Lois stole a glance at Chloe out of the corner of her eye, she was texting something to Oliver, and Lois wasn't sure what she could be telling him, they'd been texting back and forth since they left each other. Now they were on the way to the Clock Tower and Lois was getting a little annoyed with it. "Could you stop texting Oliver for like five seconds? This is important." 

"Sorry." Chloe typed something quickly, hit send and then put the phone back in her pocket. "Ok, full attention."

"There is something that I have to tell you. Now that I have you alone, in a car where you can't run away or try to kill me, you know unless you grab the wheel and crash us into a tree, which would kill you too so I don't find that very likely." Chloe looked over at Lois confused and slightly amused. "And I'm really hoping you don't try to kill me, or disown me, or both."

"Lois." Chloe laughed. "You're family, there's nothing you could do to get me to kill you, or disown you." Chloe assured her. "Unless you're about to publish an expose on the secret identities of America's superheroes." Lois still didn't say anything. "You didn't did you?" Chloe asked seriously.

"No." Lois said. "God, what do you take me for? Is that really how you see me? You think I would do that to you, to Oliver, to all of them?"

"What am I supposed to think?" Chloe said astonished at the venom in Lois' voice. "You're talking about killing and disowning and something you did that was bad…"

"Well it's not that." Lois said. "I would never do that."

"Well then what the hell are you talking about?" Chloe screamed.

"I'm in love with Clark." Lois screamed back. Chloe froze with her mouth open. "We're sort of in love with each other." Chloe closed her mouth but her eyes got wider. "We've been dating for two and half years now." Chloe just stared at her. "Say something."

"Two and half years?" Chloe shook her head trying to wrap her brain around this information. "I saw you six months ago. You didn't say anything to me."

"Yeah well you just got back from where ever the hell you went that you won't tell me about and I was still mad at you." Lois defended herself.

"Everyone knows about this right?" Chloe said. "I mean I am the last one to know aren't I?"

"Yeah." Lois said.

"That bastard." Chloe mumbled under her breath. "I knew it, I knew there was something he wasn't telling me." She pulled out her phone. "I told him I could tell when he was keeping something from me." She typed something rapidly into her phone. "He is such a liar. He didn't have to tell me what it was; he just needed to admit that he was in fact keeping a secret from me."

"Hold on, wait a minute." Lois grabbed the phone from Chloe's hand and turned to glance at her. "I just told you that I was in love with Clark Kent, that I have been dating Clark Kent for almost three years and didn't tell you, and you're mad at Oliver?"

"Please, like I'm gonna be mad at you?" Chloe said. "For one thing, I got over Clark more than ten years ago. For another thing I knew five years ago that you two were gonna get together eventually when you both stop being dumb asses."

"So you're not mad at me?" Lois asked.

"Well, are you happy?" Lois nodded. "Is Clark happy?"

"I like to think so." Lois said.

"Then no I'm not mad at you." Chloe said. "Now if you two had gotten married and you didn't tell me, then I'd be pissed."

"Please, like I can even think of planning a wedding with Mr. Zooms-away-at-the-drop-of-a-dime-to-go-save-the-world." Lois scoffed and Chloe froze for a second. "Oh yeah, I know about Superman, what you think there was any way I was gonna date another person without figuring out if they had super powers or not."

Chloe reached for her phone but Lois pulled it away. "You really want to text him don't you?"

"He lied to me." Chloe said reaching for the phone again.

"Uh huh." Lois smiled. "That's why?"

"Why else?" Chloe asked confused.

"Because it's been two minutes since the last time." Lois offered smiling smugly.

"That's not it." Chloe groaned.

"Oh, looks like he couldn't wait either." Lois laughed as the phone signaled a new message. "What's it say? Let's see."

"You're driving." Chloe said. "You shouldn't read while you're driving. Give it back." Chloe reached again but Lois pulled the phone away. The phone beeped again. "Man he's impatient." It beeped again and then again. "Can the two of you function apart?" She laughed.

"Ok, he wants to know when you're coming back." Lois read the first one. "He says that he can't deal with the kids on his own. AC and Bart won't stop fighting; Clark and Victor are just egging them on." Lois chuckled. "And the last one says Call me. It's in all capital letters with quite a few exclamation points." Lois showed Chloe the text and Chloe grabbed the phone.

She glared at Lois while she dialed a number. "What's going on?" Chloe asked as Lois tried to hold back her smile. "No, tell Bart he can't open any presents until tomorrow night." Lois laughed again. "He is not Jewish." Lois just shook her head. "Tell him if he doesn't stop it he won't get anything but coal in his stocking." Chloe warned Oliver. "We're on our way back now." Chloe sighed. "Aspirin? It's in the cabinet by the sink, on the right." She waited while Oliver looked for whatever he was looking for. "No I put it there yesterday, I'm positive. Yesterday I went to the store and I put it in that cabinet. No I'm not stopping for more, it's in there…I'll be there in five minutes, can you wait that long?" Chloe asked. "Ok, no I literally see the building, I'm hanging up now. Bye." Chloe hung up the phone but she didn't look annoyed, she was smiling slightly. "I swear he can't do anything without me."

"Ok." Lois said turning to corner and parking in front of the Clock Tower. "So you know you're in love with him right?"

"I'm what?" Chloe asked gathering her bags. "How much did you drink at dinner?"

"I'm serious here." Lois smiled. "You can barely go ten minutes without talking to him in one form or another." She pointed out. "You smile every time you bring his name up, even if it's to complain about something."

"Lois, he's my best friend and we work together and it's just…"

"That you're in love with him." Lois said. "Come on, this is me your talking to, I've already told you I think you guys are the perfect couple, I've already given you my blessing, it's not like I'm still pinning after him or anything, and if this was any other guy you would have told me months ago." She pointed out.

"I don't know." Chloe said finally and Lois gave her a look. "I really don't Lois." She sighed. "I mean, the work that we do is intense and time consuming, and he's my best friend so we hang out together a lot, not to mention the fact that as far as the rest of the world is concerned, we've been dating for five years now which means we have to do the fake couple thing in public so I don't know."

Lois nodded slowly. "I get it. You don't know what you're feeling or if it's real?"

"Exactly." Chloe smiled. "It's like, we go out on dates and I know that's all for show but it's also not all for show. We have fun, we laugh, we enjoy diner and shows and we aren't fake the whole time. And then when we get back from our fake dates, we generally just hang out, watch a movie or some television, relax with each other, and that's not fake, but is it good friends or is it method acting?"

"Ok, no, I really get it now." Lois said smiling. "You are in love with him, and you know you're in love with him. What you don't know is whether he feels the same."

Chloe thought for a minute and then frowned. "Maybe." She said quietly. "Maybe that's it. I know how I feel. I love Oliver, I don't know when I went from loving him to being in love with him but it happened and that's ok. I know how I feel when we go out to eat, when we veg on the couch and watch movies, but I don't know what's going on in his head. There is a difference between public Oliver and Chloe and private Oliver and Chloe but it's so subtle that…why did you have to point this out to me?" Chloe turned on Lois. "I was completely fine going through life oblivious to all of this."

"No you weren't." Lois waved her off. "You might think you were but you weren't. Trust me." Lois sighed. "Can I just make an observation? When you left him, went away and did your thing, he called me to see if you were with me. He sounded so completely and utterly lost, it was, I'd never in my wildest dreams think that Oliver Queen could sound like that. I was worried and I went to see him and it wasn't good Chloe. I mean I worried about you, I missed you, I was upset you were gone but to Oliver, it was like he lost you. It wasn't just about the fact that you left, it was about the fact that you left him. He didn't know what he'd done wrong and he didn't know how to fix it and he knew that there was nothing he could do to bring you back and it killed him."

"I know he missed me." Chloe said.

"No." Lois looked at her seriously. "You don't Chloe. You weren't there. You guys may be fine now, worked through all of your issues but when you were gone he was miserable. Ask the guys if you don't believe me. He didn't miss you because you were his best friend, or his partner in crime, he missed you because he loved you and you left him."

Chloe just sat in the seat and swallowed. She didn't know that she'd done that to him. "I'm not telling you this to upset you or make you think you have to do something, to make it up to him. I'm telling you this so you'll understand. The Oliver I found a week after you left and the Oliver I saw a week after you'd come back were two completely different people and the only difference in his life was you. He loves you Chloe, he may not realize it yet, or maybe he's not sure he wants to admit it because he doesn't think you feel the same but the man can't live without you."

Chloe smiled weakly and her phone rang. She looked at it and the caller ID said Oliver. "Hey." She said.

"What are you doing sitting outside the building. Are you coming up?" He asked.

Chloe looked up through the sun roof and saw him on the balcony leaning over and looking at the car. "Yeah I'm coming up." Chloe said. "Send down someone, not Bart, to help me with the bags."

"I'm on my way." He said. "Anything to get out of this place for a few minutes."

Chloe smiled and put the phone in her bag as Lois just gave her a knowing smirk. "Are you coming up or do you want us to send Clark down?"

"I'm pretty beat, I think I'll head back to Smallville." Lois said as Oliver walked out of the building and over to the car. She rolled her window down so she could observe them.

"Did you have fun shopping?" He asked as she loaded bags into his waiting arms.

"Yeah I did." Chloe smiled.

"Did you get anything for me?" He tried to peek in one of the bags.

"Maybe." She slapped his hand and he smiled at her.

"Is it a pony?" He asked as Chloe closed Lois' trunk.

"Yes Oliver I got you a pony." Chloe said then turned to Lois. "We'll send Clark down, see you tomorrow morning?"

"Yeah." Lois smiled.

"By Lois." Oliver said distractedly as he tried to look into Chloe's bags.

"Stop." She slapped his hand again. "Hey, I can give you nothing but coal if you're not good you know."

"You wouldn't." Oliver said as they walked in the building.

"I would too and you know it." Chloe told him.

* * *

Chloe couldn't concentrate she was supposed to be helping Victor with the menu for Christmas dinner but her mind wasn't in it. What Lois told her was weighing heavily on her mind. She knew, obviously that everything wasn't sunshine and roses when she left but she had no idea, what Lois described, it sounded far worse than she thought. 

"You with me Chloe?" Victor waved a hand in front of her face.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure." He turned to her.

"When I left…" She sighed, not sure how to ask this. "When I left, how messed up was Oliver?"

"Where is this coming from?"

"Lois and I had a talk today and she said she came to visit him and it wasn't…good." Chloe said. "So tell me really."

"You want to know?" Victor asked. "Really?"

"Yeah." Chloe said. "I think I need to."

"We thought he was fine at first." Victor said. "He was upset, he was anxious to find you but he seemed ok you know. But then he started to get worse, we didn't even notice at first, not until Lois showed up really."

_It wasn't hard to find him, she'd only been walking for twenty minutes when she heard the screaming, the pleading. She'd shown up at Chloe's apartment demanding to see Oliver. She'd gotten a call from AC telling her that Chloe was gone, she'd left and Oliver was going a little crazy. Victor told her he was out patrolling, that when he wasn't searching for Chloe that was basically all he did these days. She jogged to make it to the alley she'd heard the screams come from and saw Oliver, decked out in his Green Arrow gear, holding a man basically hostage with an arrow. "You can't just shoot me, that's illegal." The guy had said. _

"_Funny." Oliver said tightening the bow. "Coming from the guy who I watched steal five wallets in the past hour." _

"_So I stole some wallets and you're gonna shoot me?" He said. _

"If I just walk away, how will you learn." Oliver said letting the arrow fly and Lois closed her eyes as it embedded itself in the guys shoulder. The scream was almost unbearable. She forced herself to open her eyes and watched Oliver stalk toward him. He reached in the guys jacket and pulled out a handful of wallets. "I'll just return these for you." Then he grabbed the arrow and yanked it out. "These things are pretty expensive." He turned and walked away, the guys screams not even fazing him. 

_When he got to the end of the alley Lois stepped out of the shadows. "A little harsh punishment for a pickpocket." She said. "I didn't realize we lived in the Middle East now." _

"_Lois." He said almost exasperated. "What are you doing here?" _

"_Right now I'm wondering where exactly it is you left your brain." She jogged to catch up with him. "You could have killed that guy."_

_Oliver scoffed. "He'll live." He said climbing onto his bike. "He won't even bleed that much." _

"_Wow." Lois said. "That makes me feel so much better." _

_  
"Can I help you with something?" He turned to her. _

"_Yeah you can give me some answers." She said. He sighed and handed her the spare helmet. She stared at him for a second before taking it and climbing on the bike. _

_When they got to his apartment she followed him up but he didn't say a word to her. He walked in the apartment and saw the guys standing around a table with a large map on it. "Bart, what you got?" _

"_Nothing." He sighed. _

"_Ok." Oliver looked at the map and pointed. "I want you there tomorrow." Oliver said. "She talked about how she always wanted to visit Spain."_

"_I need another day Oliver." Bart said. "I just got back from India." _

"_And I need you there tomorrow." Oliver snapped. _

"_Hey." Victor put a hand on his arm. "Give him a day." Oliver really looked like he wanted to say no but just nodded. "Go fuel and rest up, Wednesday morning you're leaving." _

"_Yes sir." Bart said and they all left the room, giving Lois unconvincing smiles as they got in the elevator. _

_  
"Lois." Oliver said rolling up the map. "What are you doing here?" _

"_What do you mean what am I doing here?" She snapped tossing her bag on the table. "You call me and tell me that Chloe left, you don't know where she is or if she's even ok and you expect me to just say ok and go about my business." _

"_We're on it." Oliver said. _

"_Oh you're on it." Lois nodded. "Ok, that's fine, I'll just go then." She glared at him. "What do you mean you're on it? You've got Bart running around the globe that's your definition of being on it?" _

"_It's not just Bart." Oliver said. "I've got other people looking. In Gotham and New York." He brushed past her, hoping she would take the hint that he didn't want her there. _

"_Right, sure." She sat down and stared at him and he knew that Lois, the one that wasn't going to go anywhere until she got answers. "What happened?" _

"_I don't know." Oliver said. "She just left." _

_  
"That's not Chloe's style and you know it." Lois said. "What happened?" _

_  
"It was my fault." Oliver turned to her. "Is that what you wanted to hear? She left because of me." _

"_That's no Chloe's style either." Lois said. "Try again." _

"_I let her come on a mission. She wanted to come but ultimately it was my call. She wasn't ready and I should have known that, but she was in such a bad place after Edward died, I think she needed something to boost her spirits. So I let her come and it all went wrong." He sighed. "AC was shot and Bart broke his leg, and an arm and she blamed herself." _

"_That sounds like Chloe." Lois nodded. "You've been searching for two months and you haven't found anything?" _

"_Bart just healed." Oliver said. "And we thought she was in Buenos Aires for a while but that's just a cover." Lois sighed, she'd seen the article about Chloe being in Argentina and she was hoping that was the real story, no such luck._

"_What is she doing?" Lois asked. "I mean she didn't run away to join the circus or a Mariachi band." _

"_She says she's training, learning how to become Watchtower. I personally thought she already knew that, seeing as how she's been doing it for six years now." Oliver sat down. _

"_You talked to her." Lois asked relieved. _

"_Yeah, when I went to check out the beach house in Argentina. The housekeeper called her." Oliver ran his fingers through his hair._

"_She said she was ok?" _

"_Yeah." Oliver nodded. "She said she'd come back when she was ready, she swore it." _

_Lois took a deep breath. "If there's one thing I've learned in my life, it's to trust Chloe. I don't always agree with her but I trust her. I think you just need to relax, let her do what she needs to do and trust that she'll come back to you." _

"_I'll relax when I bring her home." Oliver said. _

"_How's that gonna work?" Lois asked. "Say you find her. You drag her back here and lock her up in her apartment? That'll go over well." _

"_What am I supposed to do?" Oliver asked. "And don't say trust her. I did trust her and she left me, how does that fit into your plan?" _

"_Oh I see." Lois said. "She left you." Lois nodded. "That's what this is about. Oliver Queen spoiled little billionaire can't stand it if things don't go his way." _

"That's not what this is about." Oliver said. 

"_Oh that's what this is about." Lois said. _

"_No." Oliver screamed. _

"_Then tell me." Lois pleaded with him. _

_  
"I have to find her, I have to bring her back because I don't…" He turned away. "I don't know else to do. Without Chloe, I just don't know…" _

"_You survived twenty five years without Chloe." Lois reminded him. _

"_Yeah?" Oliver laughed. "I don't' remember that." _

_Lois stood up and walked over to sit next to him. "I'll give you this, you're probably a better person for knowing her. But you can exist without her. It'll be hard but I believe in you."_

_  
"So what am I supposed to do?" Oliver asked. _

_  
"You go to work, you do you're thing with the guys, you can even stop muggers, just don't shoot them unless you have to." _

"_She wouldn't have put up with that." Oliver said. "What I did tonight, with the pickpocket. She would have torn me a new one." _

"_She would have done more than that." Lois smiled._

"_Should I stop looking?" Oliver asked. _

"_No, of course not." Lois said. "But maybe if you find her, try talking to her before you kidnap her." Oliver just nodded. "And if you find her, tell her to call me, cause I'm gonna tear her a new one." _

"Lois set him straight." Victor said. "He calmed down after that, he gave Bart a break, he tried to just, accept it."

"I didn't think…" Chloe said. "I mean I hoped you guys would miss me you know but not like that."

"The guy's crazy in love with you Chloe." Victor laughed. "How did you think he was gonna take it?" Chloe turned her head sharply to Victor who was just smiling. "Come on, everyone knows but you guys."

"I can't have this conversation again." Chloe said. "And not with you."

"Fine." Victor turned away. "Let's get this menu done and then watch a movie, I was thinking Die Hard."

"A man after my own heart." Chloe smiled.

* * *

Oliver was true to his word, after checking the paper and making sure there wasn't a headline that read "Luther Home Burgled Three Days Before Christmas", the week was nothing but Christmas, they picked out a tree, they decorated it and the apartment and Chloe just kept piling present after present underneath it. They weren't entirely sure where all the presents were coming from, it was as if she was pulling them out of Mary Poppins' endless carpet bag. 

Before she realized it, Christmas Eve was there. She woke up to yet again to fighting in the kitchen. Chloe crept down the hallway careful not to make any noise, not that they'd be able to hear her over the noise they were making. "You're gonna wake her up." Oliver said.

"We are?" Victor asked. "We're not the one's banging things around. I can't believe you don't know where anything is in your own kitchen."

"You've known me for how long?" Oliver asked. "Have you ever seen me cook?"

"Just get out of the way and let us work." AC offered and Chloe covered her laughter as Oliver skulked away from the kitchen.

"Psst." She said waving him over. He looked at her and shook his head as he walked over. "What's going on?"

"They are trying, yet again unsuccessfully to make you breakfast in bed." Oliver said.

"I should go help." Chloe started to walk to the kitchen and Oliver grabbed her arms.

"Will you just once let them do this for you?" He asked. "Please, go back to your room and act surprised."

"But they don't know how to work this kitchen." Chloe said as he dragged her to her room. "The front burners run hot and the oven doesn't cook evenly."

"They'll figure that out." Oliver said.

"I know Bart likes his eggs spicy but AC can't really handle hot things." Chloe protested. "And Victor gets a little heavy handed with the cream and I know that messes with your stomach." Oliver raised his eyebrows at her. "You can't handle all that heavy cream so early in the morning." She told him.

"Yes, I was aware of that, I just didn't realize other people were too." Oliver said his face getting a little hot with embarrassment. "Please, just once, let them do this for you?"

"Is that smoke?" Chloe asked. "Is something burning."

"They have everything under control." Oliver shoved her in her room.

"I'm just supposed to go in my room and do nothing while they mess up my kitchen?" Chloe asked whining.

"You're kitchen?" Oliver said amused. "I was under the impression this was my house."

"Yes." Chloe sat on the edge of her bed defiantly. "My kitchen. The secret room behind the clock with all the weapons is yours. The kitchen is mine."

"Well I can't argue with that." Oliver smiled.

"I guess if I have to sit here I can at least be productive." She opened up the closet and Oliver saw bag after bag after bag full of presents, none of them wrapped.

"Holy crap." He said his eyes wide.

"I still have a bit of wrapping to do." Oliver opened up the bedroom door and looked down the hall at the Christmas tree they'd set up a few nights ago and the mountain of presents all ready under it, then he looked at the stuff still in her closet.

"Don't you think you went a little overboard?" He asked closing the door again.

"No." She said defiantly. "This is the first Christmas that we've all spent together and I just wanted it to be special." She sighed. "Besides, most of this stuff is for Clark and Lois and Kara, only a little of it's for the boys."

"You spoil them you know that?" Oliver pointed out as she pulled a large box from under her bed full of wrapping paper and ribbons.

"Well yeah." Chloe smiled sitting down and starting to wrap. "But I can't help it can I? Not when they're out there right now trying to make me breakfast in bed."

"I guess not." Oliver smiled.

"Don't just stand there." Chloe handed him a role of red and green wrapping paper. "Make yourself useful."

Oliver sighed and sat on the floor pulling a bag toward him and started wrapping presents. An hour later they were finally finished with the wrapping when there was a knock on the door. "I told you she'd be awake." AC said.

"Get in bed." Bart scolded her. "It can't be breakfast in bed if you're not in bed."

Chloe obeyed and climbed onto the bed as Victor set the tray he was holding down in front of her. Her eyes got huge and she looked up at them. "I'm not eating this by myself am I?" She looked at the spread. There was eggs Benedict, waffles, bacon, sausage, fruit, and tons of other things.

"Thought you'd never ask." Bart said jumping on the bed and pulling forks out of his back pocket. Everyone climbed up on the bed and picked off of Chloe's tray. When breakfast was done they all got dressed and packed up the car with all the presents.

"So what was the point of doing all this work if we were going to spend Christmas at the Kent Farm?" Oliver asked taking the twelfth load of presents down to the car.

"Because it's Christmas and doing all that work is part of the season." Chloe said. When they got to the Kent farm the guys unloaded everything and Victor and Chloe went to get the groceries for Christmas diner before Lois' severely planned out Christmas Eve itinerary.

* * *

There was the Christmas Pageant in the town square, which was a little strange because everyone was in shorts and sandals but Chloe tried to make the most of it. Lana ran over as soon as she saw Chloe and latched onto her. Apparently Lex wasn't one for the quaint small town Christmas stuff and was thankfully not there. When it got dark enough they all took the hay ride through town to see the few houses that bothered to put up lights and Lois finished the day by pitching and unholy fit in the middle of the Talon and managed to get a round of hot chocolate, although it wasn't as enjoyable as it could have been if it were thirty degrees cooler. 

Chloe woke up on Christmas morning , confused at first but once she remembered where she was, she smiled. It was peaceful, it was relaxing, for about two minutes. "It's Christmas." Lois said jumping on Chloe's bed and hopping up and down. "Wake up, wake up, wake up."

"Lois." Chloe laughed. "Your Twenty Eight years old."

"So." Lois said confused. "It's Christmas." She jumped off the bed and pulled the covers off of Chloe and ran out of the room. Chloe heard her burst into the room next door and start her spiel all over.

Chloe pulled herself out of bed and trudged down the stairs and into the kitchen. She was happy to see Martha sitting at the kitchen table, because that meant coffee was already made. "You know where the mugs are." Martha smiled.

"Thanks." Chloe said and pulled two mugs down. She filled them both with coffee and leaned against the counter to take her first sip.

"You sleep that bad?" Martha asked. Chloe looked at her confused. "One cup at a time isn't enough anymore?"

"Oh." Chloe smiled. "Oliver slept in the same room as AC last night, so he probably didn't sleep very well." Martha raised an eyebrow. "AC snores, loudly."

"That's what I heard last night." She smiled.

Oliver walked into the kitchen and ignored both of the women. Chloe held the coffee cup out to him and he grunted his thanks before sitting down at the bar and taking his first sip. Slowly other people made their way to the kitchen and tried to wake up. Oliver started to become more human and by his second cup was actually being personable. "Who's up for breakfast?" Chloe asked pulling things out of the fridge. "That was a rhetorical question for you Bart."

"I knew that." He said lowering his hand.

"You don't have to make breakfast." Martha said. "You're all ready making dinner."

"She loves to cook." Oliver said. "If she could just sit home and feed people all day I think she would."

"Chop these." She put an onion in front of Oliver along with a knife and a cutting board.

"Yes ma'am." He said doing as he was told.

"She's been cooking a lot more than usual lately though." Oliver said chopping the onion up. "Which probably means there was a Top Chef Marathon on this week."

"Last week." Chloe said looking at Oliver's cutting board. "You're knife skills are atrocious."

Oliver raised an eyebrow and Martha just smiled. Chloe just smiled sheepishly and Martha laughed. Victor and AC came down the stairs and into the kitchen. "Hey come take over the onions." Chloe called to Victor.

He nodded at her and grabbed the cutting board. "You're knife skills suck." Victor said in passing and Chloe smiled. Her and Victor got into their rhythm and soon breakfast was up and running.

"I love watching them cook." Oliver said. "It's like a dance." He pointed out to Martha as Chloe moved to the other side of Victor, carrying the skillet over his head. He ducked automatically, without even looking up. He passed her a bottle of olive oil and she handed him the eggs.

"They do this a lot then?" Martha asked.

"All the time. It's sort of how they bonded. The first time Chloe cooked a meal for all of us, Victor just couldn't get over it and asked Chloe to teach him. They've been keeping me fed ever since."

"I didn't know you like to cook so much." Martha said as Chloe started putting eggs down on plates.

"I took a few cooking classes in high school. Dad wasn't the greatest chef and with mom gone I just sort of had to." Chloe smiled. "And then I blame the rest on Oliver." She smiled. "Edward started taking me out to such great restaurants and I developed a taste for gourmet food and then Edwards's chef took in an apprentice and he let me sit in on their lessons and the rest as they say is history."

"Then Chloe taught me everything she knows. " Victor said placing a plate in front of Martha. "Enjoy."

"I'm supposed to eat this?" She asked Oliver who just nodded digging into his own plate. "But it's too….pretty."

"I'll eat it." Bart offered.

Chloe laughed and passed out the rest of the plates before eating her own. AC and Bart were going to play rock paper scissors over clean up but Bart realized that faster it got done the sooner they could open presents. So while he did a speedy clean up Chloe and Victor got the Turkey ready and in the oven.

Unwrapping the presents took about forty five minutes and everyone had a good time. AC and Bart managed to fight only once and Martha managed to stop it in about five seconds with the "mom glare". "I've got to learn that." Chloe said astonished.

"Hey don't sell yourself short." Bart said. "You can give very scary looks when you want to."

"Thanks I think." Chloe laughed. Piles and piles of wrapping paper were bagged up and brought outside.

"It's a little cold out there." Bart said running back into the house and slamming the door on AC who walked in behind him glaring.

"Cold." Chloe said opening the door, surprised to feel a little chill. "The weather man said it was gonna be in the high eighties." She turned around and looked at Clark who was trying his hardest not to look guilty which just made him look even more guilty.

"Lois said she wanted a white Christmas." Clark said. "So I sort of just…" He blew on his glass of water and they watched as it turned to ice. "Cooled things down."

"He gives me snow for Christmas." Lois smiled. "How can I not love him?"

Chloe just shook her head.

* * *

"This is nice." Lois walked out onto the porch and leaned next to Oliver on the railing, handing him a beer. "This whole family Christmas thing." He nodded at her. "I was a little worried you know. About Chloe, about me and Clark." 

Oliver suddenly cheered. "Go Green." Lois turned her attention to the small football game on the front lawn as Chloe broke away and headed for the end zone with the ball. Suddenly Bart took after, at super speed and AC started screaming. "No powers foul." But Chloe knew Bart and she watched out of the corner of her eye and then, at the right moment she froze in place and he zoomed right on past her as she started running again and made it to the end zone. She spiked the ball and did a little dance.

"That's what you get for cheating." She stuck her tongue out at Bart and he sighed. It was AC, Chloe, and Kara, the green team, versus Clark, Bart, and Victor, the red team.

"Come on Red." Lois screamed. "You're killing me here."

They started playing again, Red team losing four yards for using powers.

"Why were you worried?" Oliver asked Lois, returning to their conversation. "Chloe's happy for you."

"I know that now, but it was like, I took her first love." Lois said then shrugged. "But to be fair, she took mine. "

Oliver turned to her. "Chloe took your first love? What was this fifth grade?"

"No." Lois said annoyed. "It was you dumbass." She slapped the back of his head.

"Me?" Oliver said glancing at the game. "She didn't take me."

"Oh she took you like five years ago." Lois scoffed then screamed suddenly. "Go Red, Go Red." Oliver turned to see Chloe pulling herself up from the ground as Victor ran into the end zone.

"Five years ago?" Oliver said turning to Lois. "What are you talking about?"

"Al right, this is me you're talking to here Queen." Lois turned to face him, a serious look on her face. "There isn't going to be any of this pretending to not understand what I'm saying, acting like it's not true. I know all right and if I say it's true, it's true ok. You're totally in love with my cousin."

Oliver opened his mouth and Lois raised an eyebrow at him. He started to form a sentence and she crossed her arms over her chest. He held up a finger to make a point and her foot started to tap rapidly on the ground. "Forget about winning an argument, how does Clark even have arguments with you?" He laughed.

"He wouldn't dare." Lois smiled.

They both turned back to the game and Oliver sighed. "So I'm in love with her huh?"

"Oh yeah." Lois said. "Of course you're in love with here. Who isn't in love with Chloe?"

"No one." Oliver chuckled.

"Exactly." She took a sip of her beer.

"So miss know it all, when did this happen?" Oliver asked, a little curious.

"I don't know, what? I'm a mind reader now?" She scoffed.

"You been hanging around a lot of meteor rock?" Oliver smiled.

Lois glared and sighed. "Fine. When I first found out about you guys, when you came back to Metropolis for Grant's funeral. It was starting then, I could tell. And so could you on some level. Think about it, that lame ass attempt at getting back together with me."

"Hey." Oliver turned to her. "I was sincere."

"You were." Lois conceded. "You were very sincere, but you weren't talking to me."

"I could have sworn I was, I was looking straight at you." He joked.

"You were looking at a girl, who you found physically attractive and who knew your deepest darkest secret and didn't run screaming."

"But it wasn't you?" Oliver asked confused.

"No, well yes, but it was also Chloe."

"You have a point there." Oliver nodded, not denying the fact that he found her physically attractive, he wasn't blind.

"And then it just, grew." Lois shrugged. "You guys had two years where you practically lived together, you worked together, you fought together. You know each other better than any two people know anyone else on this planet." Lois said.

"And that's love?" Oliver asked.

"That's not all it is." Lois sighed. "It's a feeling in the pit of your stomach, a sort of queasy sort of excited felling." Oliver smiled thinking about, Chloe did give him that. "It's an automatic smile when you hear their voice or their name even." Another check on the things Chloe did to Oliver list. "It's this little twitch you get in your lips when you're with them, the ache to kiss them." Lois smiled and Oliver coughed and looked out on the field, damn, he had that to. "And the knowledge that there is no possible way, no way in any reality that you could think of living one day without that person in your life."

Oliver swallowed a lump in his throat, thinking about how absolutely miserable he was when Chloe was away. Then he looked up and saw her, she was smiling and laughing, despite the fact that Victor and Bart each had a grip on one of her legs as she tried her hardest to drag them down the field with the ball in her hands. "You'll never make it." Victor said. "Just give it up."

"Never." Chloe screamed laughing before they managed to pull her to the ground with them.

"Chloe!" Martha walked out of the house. "Your timer went off."

"Time." Chloe said jumping to her feet. "I gotta go cook." She said dusting her pants off. She walked up to the porch and looked at Lois and Oliver. "Make yourself useful, fill in for me while we finish dinner?"

"You're a mess." He brushed the leaves out of her hair and smiled down at her cold flushed cheeks and red nose.

"I know." She smiled back. "Victor, come on, that risotto isn't going to make itself."

"Coming." He called to her.

"Ok." Chloe tossed Oliver the ball. "Bart cheats, what else is new huh but Clark plays so close to the rules, that you can use that against him." Victor ran up the steps and charged at Chloe throwing her over his shoulder. "Wait." She said and he brought her back to Oliver, still draped over his shoulder in a fireman's carry. "We're down by six but Kara's got a great arm and AC can catch like no one's business so if you get him in the end zone we can still win this thing…"

"Chloe." Oliver laughed. "It's just a front yard pickup game."

Everyone went silent as if he'd just insulted the Queen in the middle of Buckingham Palace. "This is not just a game Oliver, this is a battle of wills, an all out war, a winner take all, fight to the finish." She informed him.

"Oh." He smiled as if it all made sense now. "What are the stakes?"

"Tell him what we're fighting for Green!" Chloe screamed and AC and Kara jumped up.

"Apple Pie." They screamed.

"Pumpkin Pie." Clark, Bart, and Victor screamed back.

"Apple." Green team screamed.

"Pumpkin." Red screamed back.

Lois smiled and took pity on Oliver. "Ms. Kent said she only had time to make one pie and we sort of had a disagreement over which one." Lois said.

"You have to play." Chloe said. "For the sake of the pie."

"But I hate football." Oliver groaned.

Chloe looked at him so seriously that it took him by surprise and she grabbed his face in her hands, forcing him to look at her. "Fight and you may die. Run and you will live, at least a while. And dying in your bed many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that, for one chance to come back here as young men, and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they will never take our pie!" Chloe screamed the last word and AC and Kara started a chorus of "Apple! Apple!"

Oliver looked at Chloe as if she was crazy and Victor turned around. "We sort of had a movie marathon the other night, we watched Braveheart." He turned to go back in the house and Chloe screamed.

"Go green, go green. Yippie Kay Yay Mother…" Victor slapped a hand over her mouth quickly and turned around.

"And maybe all four Die Hard's." He smiled sheepishly.

"How awesome is Bruce Willis seriously?" Chloe asked.

"Awesome." Victor agreed as they walked in the house.

Oliver set his beer down and sighed. "Go Green." He pulled his jacket off and Lois smiled.

"Now that's love." She said.

"Lois." Clark called. "Come take Victor's place."

"What?" She looked at Clark as if he was crazy. "No."

"Pumpkin Pie." He said and she stomped her foot on the ground heading out to the "field".

"That's love." Oliver laughed.

"A love of pie." She told him. "It's just for the pie."

"For the pie." Oliver said tossing AC the ball and getting in position.

* * *

Chloe and Victor periodically looked out the kitchen window to gauge the game but they had no way of knowing the score. When it started raining, it was cold but still not cold enough for snow, Martha went out to order them back in the house they ignored her, getting wet, and muddy as they helped the rain turn the front into one giant puddle. Four hours later they all trudged back in the house, tired, weary, dirty and Chloe dropped her spatula and walked to the door of the kitchen. "What's the verdict?" She asked as Martha and Victor walked up behind her. 

"Go Green!" Oliver smiled brightly and Chloe jumped up, running to hug him as he picked her up and spun her around, setting her on his shoulder. AC did the same to Kara and they had a victory lap around the kitchen chanting "Apple! Apple!"

Clark and the Red team looked down in shame and Martha smiled. "Come on." She said. "It's Christmas, do you really think I was only gonna bake one pie?" She walked over to the hot box and pulled two pies out, setting them on the counter.

"That's gotta break the rules." AC said, letting Kara slide down back to the floor.

"I got dirty for that pie." Oliver said sliding Chloe down to the ground. "I played football for that pie."

"And it will taste all that much sweeter." Martha told him.

"You're dripping mud all over the kitchen floor." Chloe said. "Go, go, go." She shoved them out of her kitchen.

By the time all the guys got cleaned up diner was ready and as they all gathered round the table and talked and laughed and just had a good time, Oliver finally realized what the big fuss about a family Christmas was. "I'm glad we did this." He told Chloe.

"Me too." She smiled at him as Bart and AC got in a fight over the last dinner roll. "Want to do it again next year?"

"Maybe a nice quiet Christmas at home wouldn't be so bad." Oliver sighed but Chloe could tell that he was loving it and she knew that they had most likely just started a new tradition.

The temperature dropped steadily outside until Lois finally got her wish. They were all lounged in various states of a turkey coma when Lois launched herself off the couch and ran to the window. "Snow!" That was all she had to say to get everyone up and out the door. The snow kept falling harder and harder as they had snowball fights and built snowmen until it was coming down so hard they had to go back inside because they couldn't see in front of their faces.

"Roads are closed." Martha said. "Apparently a bizarre blizzard has swept through town." She said glaring at her son. "Six inches in the last two hours and counting."

"I guess I blew a little too hard." Clark said sheepishly.

* * *

The football game on top of the turkey combined with the snow knocked almost everyone out by ten o'clock. The snow finally slowed down enough and Lois insisted that Clark walk her into town to get her hot chocolate. That left Oliver and Chloe as the only ones left awake in the house. 

They'd been relaxing in front of the fire waiting for Clark and Lois to return when Chloe got a phone call. She went to the kitchen to talk and Oliver felt himself start to fall asleep when Chloe returned to the room.

"Who was that?" Oliver asked as Chloe sat back down on the couch and laid her head back down in his lap. He brought his hand up to her hair and started stroke it again.

"Abby." Chloe yawned. "She wanted to see if I got an engagement ring from Santa."

"Was she disappointed?" Oliver asked.

"Only because she had Christmas in the betting pool. " Chloe shrugged. "Then she spent an hour trying to cheer me up. Insisting that it didn't mean anything, that you so obviously loved me, that you would propose when you were ready."

"Really?" Oliver asked amused.

"Oh yeah she went on and on." Chloe smiled and turned her head so she was looking at Oliver. "She should write romance novels she actually said, "You're it for him Chloe, the end of the line." Are there really people that cheesy out there?"

"What does that mean?" Oliver asked quietly.

"Something about the way you looked at me the first night we "met" at Bruce's Birthday. Do you even remember that?" Chloe asked.

"That was the first time I saw you, Chloe Sullivan in action. You were up there at the front of the crowd." Oliver said. "With Bruce." The way his said Bruce's name made Chloe elbow him but he just chuckled. "You were so beautiful, you were smiling and laughing and whatever you were saying the crowd just ate it up, and I just knew in that moment that I'd picked the right person for the job."

"Really?" Chloe smiled.

"Oh yeah." Oliver assured her.

"That's so sweet." Chloe started to turn back to the television and Oliver shifted position.

"Chloe I need to talk to you about something." He said before he could stop himself, before he lost the courage that her smile had just given him.

She sat up and faced him. "This sounds serious."

"It is." He said to her. "When we started this whole thing almost ten years ago, the farthest thing from my mind, obviously was…I never in a million years expected to…and then Lois of all people pointed something out to me and…" He caught the amused expression on her face. "God, I'm screwing this up."

"Oliver?" Chloe looked at him half serious, half smiling. "Are you about to profess your undying love for me?" She tilted her head to the side, the ghost of a smirk on her lips.

"Yes." Oliver said so completely serious that Chloe actually leaned back a little. She looked at his face, really looked at it. He wasn't joking with her, the sincerity in his eyes, the hope on his face. She saw his smile start to fade with every second that she sat there and said nothing.

"Well." Chloe coughed, her voice having momentarily left her. "Spit it out already." She managed a weak smile when she saw his face light up again.

He opened his mouth and nothing came out, no words, no sounds. His mind was a complete blank, no thoughts that he could eve grasp onto and try and articulate. "Screw it." He said and grabbed her face, coming in for a kiss when Chloe suddenly pulled away from him and rolled onto the floor. He sat there stunned for a minute as she stared at him, her eyes huge, her hands over her mouth.

"We almost…" She said a little shakily.

"I thought you wanted me to." Oliver asked confused.

"I do." Chloe sighed. "Oh God I do."

He walked over to her and grabbed her into a hug. "What is it then?" He lifted her face and leaned down. "Is it about Lois because I really think she'll be ok with this?" Chloe managed to avoid the kiss again by burying her head in his sweater before he could reach her. She mumbled something he couldn't understand. "What?"

She lifted her head up, just slightly. "I said we can't." Chloe tried to get away but Oliver wouldn't let her so she just buried her head again.

"We can't?" He asked confused. "We're grown consenting adults. Neither of us is seeing someone else, in fact for all intents and purposes we're seeing each other." Chloe mumbled something again and he pulled her face up out of his sweater. "What?"

"I said." She bit her lip. "I had peanut brittle tonight."

Oliver froze, took a step back and looked at her as if she'd just admitted to killing puppies. "Why?" He whispered. "Why would you do that?"

"Because, Martha makes the best peanut brittle and its' been almost ten years since I had a peanut ever since I met you, just to be on the safe side, I just forgot why I didn't eat them, plus I was hardly expecting my very allergic best friend to profess his undying love for me now was I?" She yelled at him.

"Ten years." Oliver said. "Ten years you've known me, you have never eaten peanuts and now, tonight? Why?"

"Yeah, well you had ten years to tell me how you felt." Chloe pointed out. "Don't place all this blame on me."

They stood there, two feet apart, no distance at all really and they wanted nothing more than close that distance and have their first kiss, their first real kiss. But they were foiled. Two of the most badass, recognizable superheroes in the world, whose names strike fear into the hearts of criminals, were halted in their tracks by a small peanut. "I have an epi pen." Oliver said, a small smile grazing his lips. Chloe glared at him. "Right, just an option, thought I'd throw it out there."

"That would be the worst first kiss in the history of ever." Chloe pointed out. "I'd kill you."

"But you could heal me." Oliver smiled even bigger.

"And then I'd be dead for God knows how long." She was slowly starting to smile, get the humor in the whole thing.

"What's the protocol on this?" Oliver asked. "How long until…"

"Five hours." Chloe said. "To be safest." Oliver raised an eyebrow. "I checked on it for Lois, when you two were dating." Her tone was daring him to say something about it.

"And when did you eat it?" Oliver asked.

"Ten minutes ago." Chloe stifled another chuckle. "When I was on the phone with Abby."

"So we can't kiss until…" He glanced at the clock above the mantel. "Four in the morning?"

"Yep." Chloe said. "To be safe."

"Right." Suddenly they both couldn't take it anymore and the laughter spilled out. Chloe clutched the side of the couch so she didn't fall over and Oliver was having trouble keeping the tears from falling.

"What's the joke?" Lois asked walking in the room.

"Chloe ate peanut brittle." Oliver said through his laughter.

"Mom made peanut brittle?" Clark said excitedly then stopped. "What's so funny about Chloe eating peanut brittle?"

"Because." Chloe tried to take a deep breath and control her laughter. "Oliver just professed his undying love for me." She looked at Oliver and they both started laughing again.

"What?" Clark said, confused at what one had to do with the other and more confused about Oliver being in love with Chloe. "What's going on here?" He turned to Lois who was looking at Chloe and trying her hardest not to laugh. But the look of confusion on Clark's face was just too much for her and she let it out. Soon Clark felt as if he was the only sane person in the room. "I am so lost." He said shaking his head.

"I'm deathly allergic to peanuts." Oliver said.

"One little kiss and I could kill him." Chloe added her laughter slowing down a little.

"Close up my throat in two seconds flat." He said smiling at her, his laughter gone.

"This is funny how?" Clark asked as the laughter died down.

"Pay attention Smallville, peanut allergies are very sensitive, so most likely Chloe has had peanuts or peanut butter or peanut candy or even peanut oil for ten years am I right?" Lois asked and Chloe nodded. "Just to be on the safe side, to make sure she didn't infect Oliver by accident."

"Ok." Clark said following along better.

"And tonight, on the very night that Oliver decides to come clean about his feelings for her, she goes and munches on some tasty peanut brittle." Lois said. "You follow?"

"Not really?" Clark shook his head.

"What's the one thing you wanted to do more than anything after you told me you loved me?" Lois asked putting her arms around his neck.

"Kiss you." Clark smiled and then he looked at Chloe and then at Oliver and it was as if a light flicked on his head.

"There it goes." Lois smiled and turned away from him. "So five hours right?" Lois sighed. "To be safe?"

"Five hours?" Clark looked astonished. "That long?"

"Yeah, pretty much sucks to be you." Lois said. "I mean come on, it's Christmas, you've got the fire going, you're snowed in, it's a beautiful night, and you're in love."

"I'm serious Chloe." Oliver said turning to her and tuning Lois out. "I've got that epi pen in my pocket; I'll show it to you."

"You waited ten years to kiss me Oliver; you can wait five more hours." Chloe told him.

"I'm glad you have so much faith in me because I'm not so sure." He smiled at her.

"Yeah maybe it would be best if we went to bed." Lois said threading her arm in Chloe's. "Oliver isn't one known for his self restraint.

"Thank you for that Lois." Oliver smiled as she dragged Chloe up the stairs. When they hit the landing Clark turned on Oliver.

"Since when are you in love with Chloe?" Clark asked him.

Oliver sat down on the couch and put his head in his hands. It was going to be a long night.

* * *

Chloe couldn't sleep. She felt like a kid anxiously waiting for Santa Clause. But the excitement of Christmas Eve couldn't even compare to what she was feeling at the moment. Oliver Queen was in love with her, with Chloe Sullivan. Ten years ago she would have said that was the most ridiculous thing in the world. Granted Fifteen years ago she would have called anyone crazy if they told her that her best friend would turn out to be an alien from another planet. She looked over at the clock. 3:52. She sighed in frustration and threw off her covers. Careful not to wake Lois she tip toed out of the room and down the stairs. Maybe some warm milk would help. She dug around in the fridge and pulled out the milk and searched around for a clean pot. 

She froze when she heard a noise and set the milk on the counter. She walked slowly out to the living room and saw Oliver at the bottom of the stairs. So he couldn't sleep either, she smiled at him a little. He walked down the last few steps and stood there staring at her. Almost at the same time they both turned to the clock on the mantel. 3:58. They looked back at each other and smiled.

Chloe's feet seemed to propel her forward before she even realized she was walking. Oliver met her half way until they were standing only inches apart. He reached up and brushed some hair behind her ear and his fingertips on her cheek sent a chill down her spine. His face seemed to be coming closer and closer and as she closed her eyes and leaned her face up, she heard the clock chime the hour. "Thank God." Oliver whispered before his lips met hers.

This was it, she was finally kissing Oliver, and it was so much better than she ever could have imagined it to be. Sure they'd kissed before, they'd kissed a lot, it was a part of their cover, but this time it was different. Neither of them were holding back their feelings anymore. And it wasn't like a first kiss with a guy she'd been on a few dates with, she knew Oliver, there was no hesitation here, there was no shyness, no uncertainty, she loved him, she knew him, and he knew her and my God did he know what to do with his tongue. Chloe moaned a little and relaxed her body into his, his hand falling to the small of her back like it fit there, because it did, it was made to go there.

This was definitely not going down as the worst kiss in the history of ever, it was going down as the best kiss in the history of ever. Chloe could even hear music. She'd always thought that was a exaggeration, a metaphor, something abstract, but the music was real, it was familiar, a song she knew, and it was in stereo, wait that wasn't right. She very reluctantly pulled away from Oliver slightly; he rested his forehead against hers and smiled. Chloe tilted her head. "Please tell me you hear that too." She whispered to him.

He cocked his head to the side and saw the stereo had been turned on. They both listened for a minute; the music was a slow jazzy tune that Chloe was sure she'd heard before. Suddenly from the speakers a velvety woman's voice erupted. "At Last," Chloe laughed and buried her head in his chest. "My love has come along, my lonely days are over and life is like a song."

"Did you?" Chloe asked him.

"No." Oliver shook his head and then looked around the room for a remote. He found something else instead. He tilted Chloe's head to look at the stairs, lined up in a row, like the Von Trapp Children, Lois, Cara, Victor, Clark, Bart, and AC were all standing there smiling at them. Bart held up a remote and pushed a button turning the music off.

"It's about time." He smiled at them.

Oliver chuckled and Chloe blushed and buried her face in his chest. "Ok, guys, this was fun but I'm freaking tired." Lois said corralling the guys up the stairs and taking the remote from Bart, tossing it to Oliver who caught it easily. "Night." She smiled at them and he nodded to her.

"Are they gone?" Chloe mumbled.

"Yes." Oliver laughed kissing her on the forehead. She looked up at him and smiled. He turned to the radio and pushed a button, the song started up again and he lowered the volume. "Dance with me?" He asked her.

She just nodded as he started to move with the music. "Bart I'm serious." Lois screamed and Chloe and Oliver turned their heads to see him peeking through the very top of the stairwell at them. He jumped up when Lois yelled and ran to his room. Oliver just pulled Chloe tighter as they danced in the living room.

* * *

Song Oliver and Chloe finally kiss to is At Last by Etta James, a personal favorite of mine and little homage to all the fans who've been waiting since chapter two for this to happen. 


	18. Chapter 18

To people who didn't know Chloe and Oliver as well as the guys did, nothing was different when they got back. To the outside observer they seemed like the same two people they did before they went on Christmas holiday. They still had lunch whenever possible, still talked on the phone two or three times a day at work, still went out to dinner and shows, charity functions and parties. But if you knew them, if you observed them closely you would see the little changes.

You would see that the touches lingered a little longer, the smiles were more intimate. You would notice that their public displays of affection were more frequent and tender. To their friends the differences were like night and day and yet at the same time, there was no difference at all. Chloe and Oliver had always been close, had always hung out together. On Saturday nights they snuggled together on the couch and watched movies like they always did. On Sundays they walked four blocks to a small diner and shared a tall stack of chocolate chip pancakes like they always did. And the rest of the week they spent hanging out with the group, like they always did.

There was only one major difference in their everyday lives now, knocking. Between the three apartments, Oliver's, Chloe's, and the guys there used to be an open door policy, come and go as you please, everyone was welcome at any time. But after the first two or three times someone walked in on something they'd rather not have witnessed, knocking or calling ahead became the norm.

"I said I was sorry like fifteen times." Chloe explained to Victor. "Take these back to Sarah and ask her to forward them to Tony after she makes the changes." Chloe handed an envelope to Elizabeth who nodded and walked away.

Victor waited until Elizabeth was out of the room to speak. "Well another fifteen wouldn't hurt." He shuddered a little. "The kitchen is a sacred place you know."

"Oh get over it, we weren't even completely undressed." Chloe scoffed and then held up a finger. She picked up the phone and pushed a button. "Eric, could you make sure that Accounting knows I need those figures by the end of the day tomorrow, thanks."

"I think we should make a new rule." Victor said. "All relevant articles of clothing should be worn at all times in the kitchen, and no sex on the countertop."

"You want to make that a rule for my kitchen?" She asked flipping through another folder.

"I want to make that a rule for every single kitchen in the world but I think it'd be hard to get everyone else to listen to me." Victor pointed out.

"Ok I want to stop talking about this now." Chloe smiled up at him. "You ready for lunch?"

"I was ready for lunch when I got here thirty minutes ago." Victor smiled at her.

"I know, I'm sorry." Chloe grabbed her jacket and they walked to the door. On their way to the elevator they were stopped no less than five times and Victor couldn't really contain his amazement. "What?" Chloe asked. "What's that face for?"

"Nothing, I guess." He pushed the button for the elevator. "I just never really realized what you do." This was his first visit to her office surprisingly enough. "You're the boss of everyone here." He looked around the room, watched all the people scurrying around, doing Chloe's bidding. "I mean I'm used to you being my boss." Victor shrugged. "But this is almost surreal."

"Wait a minute I'm not your boss." Chloe said confused.

"Of course you're my boss." Victor scoffed at the look on Chloe's face. "You're all the guys boss, I mean you don't do it alone, you and Oliver sort of Co-Boss if that makes any sense."

Chloe shook her head as if poor Victor was just confused. "No, Oliver's the boss, I'm just a part of the team."

"Please." He smiled. "Like you could ever be just a part of the team. It's not a bad thing. You're a really good boss." He stopped someone walking by and smiled. "Isn't she a really good boss?"

"Yes, of course." The woman whose name, Chloe was ashamed to admit, she didn't remember smiled. "She's the best."

"Thank You." Chloe smiled at her and turned red faced back to the elevator.

"See you're a good boss." Victor said.

"Like she was hardly going to say otherwise with me standing here." Chloe pointed out as they got in the elevator. "How exactly is it you figure I'm your boss?"

"Well." Victor thought for a second. "You pay half my paycheck." He had a point there, as soon as Chloe started to take on more responsibility with in the JLA, she insisted to Oliver that the same responsibility be appliedfiscally also and so she set up JL Industries which she and Oliver split 50/50, to take care of anything related to the Justice League. It's what paid for the guy's apartment, for all the equipment, for Oliver's Arrows, and the guy's paychecks. "Plus ,you tell us what to do and we do it."

"Do I boss you guys around?" Chloe asked worried.

"No." Victor laughed. "You just have a very commanding way of asking for things. I can see why, the way you work around here, it just comes natural."

"Ok, fine." Chloe had to give in to him. "But don't call me Boss, or ma'am or anything like that, ever, all right?"

"No problem." Victor said. "So you're in charge of all of this?"

"Yep." She smiled. "I'm in charge of all of this."

"So you could fire anyone one of these people."

Chloe laughed. "Yes I could."

"How about him?" Victor pointed to a man at the reception desk.

"Uh, that's the UPS delivery guy, he doesn't actually work for me so I'm gonna go with no." Chloe said.

Victor was taken back as a woman slammed into his shoulder, to busy reading a folder to even bother to say "excuse me" or "sorry". "Could you fire her?" Victor watched her walk

"Yes actually." Chloe said glaring at the woman, she recognized her, Stephanie from the Marketing Department, Chloe never liked her that much. "In fact I'll go fire her right now."

Victor grabbed her elbow and Chloe laughed. "I didn't mean you should fire her." He said a little worried. "I just wondered if you could. Just leave her alone."

"Fine." Chloe smiled. "But she's on my list now. I'll be watching her."

"Could you fire that guy?" Victor pointed to a security guard stationed at the front of the building.

"Yes." She nodded. "But I wouldn't." She said. "That's Frank. He has four kids, the first of which is going off to college after she graduates, and she's pretty damn smart so it's not gonna be a state school. Plus he runs outside to catch me a cab when it's raining so I don't get wet, he's pretty much employed for life."

That surprised him and Victor looked around the ground floor, people were walking in and out of the building, security guards, secretaries, even maintenance workers, everyone here was reliant on Chloe for a paycheck, to support their families, to make sure they could feed their kids. He suddenly realized how stressful and important her job was. "Hey Frank." Chloe smiled and walked up to the guard. "How's it going?"

"Can't complain Ms. Sullivan, can't complain."

"Oh I'm sure you could, but you never do." Chloe smiled at him. "Listen. I talked to Bradley up in HR and he said that Tara signed up for our internship program."

"That's right; she's still on the waiting list." He nodded.

"No she's not." Chloe smiled. "I bumped her up. She gets out of school at one right?" Frank nodded with a huge smile on his face. "Tell her to be at my office by one forty five on Monday and she can get started."

"You're office?" Frank asked confused.

"Yeah I'm gonna have her shadow Elizabeth. With the new merger we're working on, as cliché as it sounds, my assistant needs and assistant, and she'll learn far more about running a business hanging around in my office than she would in the mail room where they wanted to put her."

"You don't have to do this Ms. Sullivan." Frank told her.

"Tara is too smart to waste on the mail room. And if she does good I can get her a job at one of our Boston office's when she finally makes it to Harvard." Chloe turned to Victor. "Tara's dream is Harvard business school. Someday soon she's going to own one of the largest companies in the world and I'll be able to say I gave her her first break, taught her everything I knew."

"This is all very kind of you." Frank said a little upset. "But it doesn't look like she's gonna make it to Harvard."

"What?" Chloe asked.

"We make too much money to qualify for financial aid, and by the time you convinced her to apply, all the scholarships were given to other people." He said. "But she really appreciates the letter of recommendation you wrote for her. Maybe you could write another one for Star City University."

"No." Chloe said. "She's going to Harvard." The conviction in her voice was so fierce even Victor looked a little surprised. "She didn't miss out on all the scholarships. Landing an internship here makes her eligible for our scholarship program."

"You have a scholarship program?" Frank asked confused.

"Yes, but she's going to have to work hard, just cause she's in the boss' office isn't a guarantee." Chloe said.

"Yes ma'am, I'll let her know." Frank smiled and grabbed her hand. "Thank you."

"It's my pleasure." Chloe assured him. "I'll see you later; I promised him lunch an hour ago." As if on cue Victor's stomach growled loud.

"Of course." He smiled.

They walked out the doors and onto the streets and Chloe grabbed her phone. "Elizabeth, hey I need you to set up a meeting with someone from Accounting later today and myself and figure out what we need to do to set up a scholarship fund. Thanks."

"You don't have a scholarship program." Victor smiled.

"No." Chloe said sheepishly. "You don't understand, this girl is off the charts smart. I met her five years ago and even in Junior high it was ridiculous. She's going to Harvard if I have to pay for all four years myself. But if I had just handed him a check for her first years tuition, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have taken it. He's a very proud man and he feels ashamed enough already that I'm bumping her up in the internship. So this way both he and Tara will know that she had to earn this."

"How do you know she'll win?"

"Cause she'll want it bad enough." Chloe smiled. "Plus since it's so very new, she'll be one of the only ones who even know about it."

"I didn't realize you were so sneaky."

Chloe turned to him confused. "I covertly break into secret labs and hack into government websites and you didn't know I was sneaky?"

"Well, you got a point there." Victor said. "So what's for lunch?"

* * *

After Victor mentioned the boss thing, Chloe started to notice it. Little things like Bart and AC asking her permission to do things, her advice on subjects. The way they referred to her when Oliver wasn't around and sometimes when he was. She was technically the boss of over millions of employees worldwide but this was a little unsettling to her for some reason. Maybe because it was more personal, maybe because her decision to switch to recycled paper in all the copies machines at the office didn't have as big an impact as allowing Bart to go on solo reconnaissance missions to secret labs where he could be captured and experimented on, thus putting the rest of the Justice League in danger trying to rescue him. Not that that's happened in years but now it weighed heavily on her mind.

"You've been real quiet tonight." Oliver said. "You ok?"

"Yeah, just something Victor said the other day." She grabbed his plate and walked to the kitchen. "Am I a good boss?"

"What do you mean?" Oliver followed her to the kitchen.

"It's just that he pointed out to me that I was kind of the guys boss you know and I want to make sure I'm a good one." She set the dishes on the sink and then pulled herself up on the counter. "It's a little different demanding someone create a Quarterly sales projection and making someone blow up a building."

"What exactly is the problem here?" He asked.

"Well it's just I know what I'm doing at the office. I've been doing it for ten years now and I'm pretty good at it if I do say so myself. But I just want to make sure I'm making good decisions here. There's a little more at stake than money you know."

"Of course you make good decisions." He smiled at her. "No one's dead yet are they?" Oliver moved in front of her and settled in between her legs.

"Not funny." Chloe pouted.

"You have been doing this job for ten years now too, more than ten years, I wouldn't have recruited you if I didn't think you'd be good at it and if I do say so myself, I trained you pretty good." He leaned down and kissed her softly. "I really have to get back to the office." Oliver told Chloe. He'd been working on something big and she hadn't really seen a lot of him in the past few weeks. Chloe had persuaded him to come home for dinner and she was working on keeping him there for dessert.

"Right this second?" Chloe asked slipping her hands under his shirt and running them lightly up and down his back. He closed his eyes in pleasure and leaned his forehead against her shoulder.

"Brian's going to call me in five minutes." Oliver told her.

"It only takes you two to get to the office." She reminded him, kissing slowly down his neck.

"Yeah, well there's no way you're going to get me to admit that I can be done in three minutes." He smiled at her.

Chloe pulled away from his neck. "There's no way I'd let you be done in three minutes." Oliver laughed.

"Then what…" He was cut off when she kissed him.

"All I have to do is get the ball rolling and when five minutes come around and that phone rings, you'll be too busy to worry about Brian."

"Chloe." Oliver pulled her hands out of his shirt. "I don't want to go back to the office. You have absolutely no idea how much I don't want to go to the office right now. But, the sooner I go the sooner I can get back and longer I can stay."

"Hmm." Chloe leaned back and crossed her arms over her chest. "Are you trying to negotiate with me?" She asked smiling.

"We're both businessmen." Chloe coughed. "Businesswoman." She smiled. "I think we can work out some sort of agreement."

"I'm listening." Chloe said putting her hands back under his shirt. "What are your terms?"

"Well if you can give me two hours, two measly little hours to go back to the office, finish up what I need to, I can guarantee you'll have eight hours of me, all to yourself."

"Hmm." Chloe said allowing her hands to slip into the top of his pants and rest on his hips as she pulled him closer. "That sounds like a good deal." She smiled. "A little too good." Chloe said. "Eight hours seems like a lot but you aren't specifying what would happen in those eight hours. You could be asleep for six of them and then where would that leave me?"

Oliver smiled at her. "You're a tough negotiator."

"You should see me in the boardroom." Chloe said.

"Oh we'll do that one night, don't you worry." Oliver said to her. "Let's see I'll give you five hours of sleep, and three hours to do whatever you see fit to do to me."

"Whatever I see fit?" Chloe asked bringing her hands around from his back to caress over his chest. "Now that sounds like a plan I can get behind, or on top of."

"Chloe." Oliver warned her as she lightly raked her nails down his chest. "Stay focused, we're bartering a deal here."

"Right." Chloe said. "Two hours of work for three hours of whatever I want to do. I think I'd have to give back that businessman of the year award if I don't take that."

"You know a good thing when it comes along." Oliver agreed.

"What's say we seal the deal with a kiss?" Chloe leaned forward until her lips were just hovering over his. "Unless you're one of those old fashioned types, prefer a hand shake?"

"Hmm." Oliver rubbed his nose against hers. "I think I'll take the kiss." He smiled and Chloe captures his lips. He pulled her closer and she wrapped her legs tighter around his waist. He moved his lips to her neck and Chloe tossed her head back in pleasure.

"Is that how you close all your deals?" She laughed. "Because if that's the case, I'm gonna have to start worrying about this new client and the amount time your spending with him."

"This is reserved only for our VIP clients." He told her as his hands made their way under her shirt.

"How many of those do you have?" She asked.

"Just the one." He said smiling. He pulled back and gave her a look, a look that Chloe knew all too well.

"Oh no." Chloe said pulling his hands out of her shirt. "Brian's going to call you in like thirty seconds. You should have left a minute and a half ago."

"You distracted me." He smiled at her. "Screw Brian."

"I'd rather not." Chloe smirked at him. "We made a deal. You go to the office for two hours, I get you for three. I don't go back on my deals. Besides, Victor made a rule about not having sex in the kitchen after last time."

"Come on." Oliver said grabbing her around the waist and lifting her up. She squealed and tightened her legs around his waist. "Real quick." He said carrying her to the living room. "Three minutes." He smiled.

"Ha." Chloe laughed and tried to pull away from him. The only thing that accomplished was pulling Oliver off balance and sending them both falling into the couch. They laughed as they fell onto each other and Oliver smiled pushing the hair out of Chloe's face.

"Ok, not three minutes, Twenty minutes, an hour, two hours." He kissed her softly.

"What about work?" Chloe whispered.

"What work?" Oliver said. "I don't have to work?"

"No?" Chloe ran her fingers through his hair and smiled as she rubbed her thumb on his neck. "So then you don't care if schools that teach underprivileged children in Africa have access to affordable computers?"

"That was low." Oliver frowned and kissed her again.

"Two hours isn't that long." She assured him. "As soon as you get back to work, the time will fly and then you'll be back and then maybe we can do that boardroom thing."

"Really?" Oliver smiled. "Will you put on a business suit?" Chloe nodded. "And those black heals with the little holes at the toe?" Chloe chuckled but nodded. "Will you wear your hair up all sever and threatening like?" She smiled. "Fishnets or thigh highs?" He asked.

"Oh a girls got to keep something secret." Chloe kissed him and his phone rang.

"Hold that thought." He reached into his pocket and pulled it out, sure enough it was Brian.

Then Chloe's phone rang. She looked over at the coffee table and just managed to reach it, Victor was calling. "Hello." She said as Oliver pretended to listen to Brian, muttering the occasional ok as he kissed his way down her stomach.

"We're coming up." Victor said before hanging up the phone. Chloe looked at it confused before hanging up at the same time as Oliver.

"The guys are coming over." Chloe said.

"Brian's having a meltdown." Oliver sighed.

"Two hours?" Chloe asked.

"Two hours." He promised, kissing her one last time for good measure as the elevator opened.

"Keep it in your pants, there are children in the room." Victor said throwing a hand over Bart's eyes.

"Hey." Bart slapped it away and Oliver pulled himself up to a standing position then helped Chloe off the couch.

"I'll be back." He said. "Two hours."

"Yeah." Chloe said blushing slightly as she turned to the guys. "Have you eaten? We got some leftovers from dinner."

"Oh." Bart went straight to the table and Chloe looked expectantly at AC and Victor.

"Do you guys do it on the sofa?" AC said suddenly. "Because I nap on that sofa, I watch television on that sofa." He looked at her appalled. "I eat on that sofa."

"You eat in my living room?" Chloe said raising her eyebrows. Chloe was fanatic about food not being anywhere but the kitchen or the patio.

"What?" AC back tracked. "Of course I don't, who would eat in the living room. Victor do you eat in the living room."

"Just never mind." Chloe brushed him off. "What do you got?"

"I'm still waiting for an answer on the sofa question." AC pointed out and Chloe glared at him.

"We got a letter from Susan today. She says that Cassandra or rather Janet seems strange, I guess stranger than usual. She passed on another code."

Chloe took the paper from Victor and walked to the computer to input the letters in the program. It was longer than usual and they all stood around waiting anxiously. Chloe pulled the printout from the computer and stared at it for a minute. "What does it say?"

"It hurts now." Chloe said slowly. "I don't like the needles, I can't close my eyes. Help." She looked up at Victor who was now joined by AC and Bart, all of them looking intent and focused. "I don't know where I am anymore, I don't know how to get out. Subject 45 knows."

"Who?" AC asked.

"Why does that sound familiar?" Victor asked.

"Subject 45?" Chloe said to herself. "Subject 45." She'd seen that name somewhere, in something but where.

"You mean Jackson?" Bart asked.

"Jackson?" Chloe turned to him.

"One of the guys we saved from the frozen tube things." Bart said. "They called him Subject 45."

Chloe looked at Victor and then got quickly on the computer. Sure enough, Subject 45, Jackson Kane. "How would he know where Cassandra is?"

"I don't know." Bart shrugged. "I did my part."

"Where is he?" Victor leaned over Chloe's shoulder.

"We placed him somewhere didn't we?" Chloe said looking through files. "Here." He pulled up a document. "We got him a job working construction in Chicago." She stood up and grabbed her jacket. "I can be there in a few hours."

"Should we call Oliver?" AC asked.

"No, yes, call him and fill him in and tell him I'm on it." Chloe said walking to the elevator. "And make sure to put what you don't eat in the fridge." Bart nodded. "Oh and if you could just start soaking the sauce pot, that would be great." She smiled and pushed the button for the ground floor.

* * *

By the time she got to Chicago, it was too late to go see Jackson. As anxious as she was, she needed this guys help and showing up at his apartment at one in the morning was not the way to go about getting it. She checked herself into a hotel and called Oliver. "I thought you didn't back out of deals." He joked with her.

"We never specified when I got those three hours." Chloe said and Oliver groaned. "God is in the details."

"Don't I know it." He said. "You could have waited for me, I would have gone with you."

"I know." Chloe said. "I just got caught up. This is Cassandra Oliver, the girls been risking her life to help us for years and now she finally wants our help, I just couldn't wait."

"I understand." Oliver told her. "Don't worry about it. Have you talked to him yet?"

"No, I figure it's better not to ask a guy for a favor at one in the morning." Chloe said. "I'm gonna get some sleep and talk to him tomorrow."

"Call me."

"I will." Chloe smiled.

"I love you." Oliver told her.

"Me too." She said before hanging up the phone. Suddenly Chloe wasn't so sure about her rash decision. When she hung up the phone she realized that this was the first night that they'd spent apart. Her fingers hovered over the keypad on her phone when there was a knock on her door.

"Room service." A voice said and she got up confused. She'd only been in the room for ten minutes; she hadn't had time to order anything. She opened the door to see Oliver standing there with a bag over his shoulder and his tie undone.

"What are you doing here?" Chloe asked smiling as she stood on tip toe to kiss him.

"Vic said you ran out so fast you forgot to pack any clothes." He handed her the duffle bag and she smiled.

"My hero." Chloe let him in the room. "You flew all the way out here to bring me clothes, there's a boutique in the hotel."

"Well, that and it would have been the first night we've been apart and frankly I'm not sure I'm ready for that yet." He gathered her in his arms.

"Why Oliver Queen, you're just a big softy aren't you?"

"I packed your business suit." He raised his eyebrows and Chloe laughed. "And the shoes open at the toe."

"Fishnets or thigh highs?" Chloe dropped the bag on the ground.

"Oh, a guys gotta have some secrets." He smiled and pulled her down on the bed.

* * *

The next morning Oliver had to take a conference call to go over the stuff that he'd missed when he ran out of the office the night before so Chloe was going solo to see Jackson. Secretly she thought that was a better plan because whether people recognized him or not, Oliver could come off as intimidating, either in his Green Leather or an Armani suit. She was happy to note that besides the business suit Oliver packed her tasteful clothes and she debated between Jeans and a sweater and her black pants and blouse. She decided on the professional look of the black pants and blouse but she regretted the choice the moment she stepped out of the cab onto the construction site and into a world of sawdust and mud. "So much for the professional look." Chloe sighed trying unsuccessfully to wipe some of the grime off of her pants.

"Can I help you with something?" A very imposingly large man in a hard hat looked down at her.

"I'm looking for Jackson Kane." Chloe smiled her brightest, I'm nothing to be worried about, just a dumb blonde smile and he grunted and pointed her towards an area off to the side. She walked around the construction zone and found a man unloading large bags of cement from a truck to a pile, and since he was the only one there, she assumed this was her guy. "Jackson Kane?"

He looked up at her, then he looked her up and down and smiled. "Yeah?" He couldn't have been any older than Chloe herself.

"I was wondering if I could have a moment of your time?" She stepped forward and he slammed a bag down loudly.

"Whatever you're selling, I'm not buying." He told her.

"I'm not selling anything." She said walking up to stand beside the truck. "I actually need something from you."

He paused in his work and looked at her. "What would that be?"

"Information."

"You should talk to the foreman." He told her going back to unloading his truck.

"Not about construction." She said. "About Lex Luther." That got his attention he froze with the bag halfway to the pile and fell to the ground hard, splitting open.

"Kane, pay attention, you gotta be more careful with that stuff."

"Sorry boss." Jackson said turning to glare at Chloe.

"I don't know anything about Lex Luther." He said.

"No?" Chloe asked a little annoyed. "So then he didn't kidnap you and freeze your body in an overgrown test tube?"

"Lady." Jackson chuckled. "You got one crazy imagination. You got the wrong guy."

"Oh I got the wrong guy. Sorry." Chloe held up her hands. "Yeah I probably do, I was looking for Subject 45." He dropped another bag and the foreman gave him an annoyed look.

"I got work to do here so if your want to take you crazy little story and go somewhere else I'd be really happy."

"I got the right guy." Chloe said. "You know how I know? Cause I was watching, when they pulled your body out of the tubes. I know that some very nice people got you the medical attention you needed. Relocated you to Chicago, got you this job. I'm one of the good guys." Chloe told him.

He looked up at her. "You work with the people who saved me?" He asked.

Chloe nodded. "And I need your help."

"Look, before they relocated me; they asked me to join them, to help them." He shook his head. "I told them I don't want any part of this. I don't want this stupid power; I don't want to take down Lex Luther. I want to do my job and I want to be left alone."

"There's a woman." Chloe told him as he turned back to the truck. "She can see the future. Lex's has her hostage for years now, and he's hurting her. She asked for my help but I don't know where he's got her. She said you did."

"I don't know anything." He told her again.

"This woman." Chloe said. "Cassandra, she's the reason we found you. She led us to that place, to your lab, she saved your life, why don't you help me save hers?"

"I told you."

"You don't know anything." Chloe sighed. "Yeah I heard it the first time." She pulled a card out of her purse and flipped it over to write something on the other side. "I'll be in the city for a few more days. I'm staying at the Peninsula, Room 1502."

He looked at the card as if it was going to bite him then took it and shoved it in his pocket. "Kane, I'm paying you to work, not socialize."

"I'll be seeing you." Chloe said before walking away.

* * *

It took two days before she heard the knock on her door. She smiled at Oliver smugly. He'd been saying over and over that Jackson wouldn't help them. Oliver was the one that offered him the position with the team and Jackson wasn't particularly pleased with having powers at all, he wanted nothing to do with them, he almost hated them. But Chloe was sure that she'd gotten through to him, was sure that he'd help. "Took you long enough." Chloe said leading him into the room. "I told you I got to him."

"Yeah well." Jackson sat down on the couch. "You didn't really play fair with the "she saved your life" card."

"It worked." Chloe countered and he snorted. She sat there quietly, sometimes it was better to let them come to the information on their own than to pull it out of them. The first thing she'd learned as a reporter, people hate long silences, but she was good at them, she could outlast anybody she just had to wait for him to get uncomfortable.

"I have a good memory." Jackson finally said. Chloe looked at him confused. "Like a really good memory. Like a way above normal good memory." He said to her and she got it, that was his power. "The outfit you had on yesterday, black pants, white blouse, Dolce and Gabbana, I'm not gay I just saw the tag, seven buttons, each button sewn on parallel not criss cross five times each, except the one on the bottom, a thread is coming loose so it's only four times on one side, you might want to check that before it falls off." Chloe got up and walked to the bedroom and retrieved the shirt. Sure enough it was Dolce and the buttons were sewn on parallel with five strings except the bottom button. She looked up at him amazed. "I have a good memory."

"Ok." Chloe sat down. "I believe you." She said smiling.

"I heard that name, Cassandra." Jackson said. "A lot actually. They never bothered to sedate us, they never thought we'd get out alive I guess, didn't care. The thing is my memory is auditory as well as visual."

Oliver looked confused for a second. "Auditory?"

"He remembers everything he hears too." Chloe said.

"Oh." Oliver nodded. "Oh, so you know…"

"Everything." Jackson said. "Like I told you they didn't bother to sensor themselves around us."

"So then you know where she is?" Chloe asked happily.

"No, maybe, I don't know." Jackson sighed. "Just because I remember everything doesn't mean I understand it all. I could sit in on four years worth of college lectures about quantum physics but that doesn't mean I can time travel."

"Ok, so what do we do?" Oliver turned to Chloe.

"Write it down." Chloe passed him a pad of hotel stationary.

"How will that help?"

"Let's just say we know everything about quantum physics." Chloe said. "You write, we'll figure it out."

"I was there for a year and a half." Jackson said. "This isn't gonna do it."

"I'm on it." Chloe stood. "Just get started with this and order some room service." She kissed Oliver's cheek and grabbed her bag. "I want six pages at least when I get back."

"She's…" Jackson watched the door closed and turned to Oliver.

"Yeah." Oliver ran his fingers through his hair. "I'm gonna order the food. You get writing."

"What will she do if I don't have six pages?" Jackson asked.

Oliver held his hand over the phone and smiled. "You don't want to find out."

Jackson picked up the pen and started writing.

An hour and a half later Chloe walked back in the room carrying two boxes and an armful of bags. "Oh God." Oliver said putting down his fork. "I didn't know there was an Apple store here." He groaned and got up, relieving Chloe from her burden.

"It's just easier this way." Chloe opened one of the boxes and pulled out a new laptop and handed it to Jackson.

"I said I didn't have enough paper and you went out and bought me a computer?" Jackson laughed.

"No I went and bought me a computer, and I'm letting you use it." Chloe took a bite of Oliver's dinner. "I've been meaning to try out the new MacBook Air." Chloe said.

"And this one?" Oliver held up the other box.

"Well it's hardly fair if I get one and Victor doesn't." Chloe explained taking another bite of Oliver's plate. "This is really good, who's the chef here?"

"I forgot to ask." Oliver rolled his eyes at her.

"Pages." Chloe said snapping her fingers at Jackson and he passed over the pad. She went to eat another bite of Oliver's food.

"Would you like me to order you something?" Oliver asked and she paused with the fork halfway to her mouth.

"Yes, please. Whatever this is." Chloe smiled. "And maybe a slice of…"

"Cake?" Oliver asked. "You got it."

Chloe was on the fourth page by the time her food got there and Jackson had been typing the whole time. "What the hell does this mean?" She asked with her mouth full.

Jackson looked over at her. "I thought you said you knew all about quantum physics."

"I dmhn." Chloe said muffled and Oliver glared at her. She swallowed. "I do." She repeated. "I'm just not sure what plane tree, pull top department is supposed to mean."

Jackson looked at her confused and grabbed the paper. "It says, phase three, full troop deployment." He looked up at her. "Do you understand that?"

"Yes unfortunately. You're penmanship is horrible." Chloe said. "Project Ares." She said to Oliver.

"You think he started it again?" Oliver asked.

"If it helps I heard that when I first got there, my fourth day actually so that would have been…."

"Six years ago." Chloe said. "So he was probably talking about Bendis." Chloe sighed with relief. "You remember when you heard things?"

"What part of good memory are you having trouble understanding?" Jackson smiled. Chloe glared at him. "You want me to write dates by everything."

Chloe opened her mouth and Oliver put a hand on her shoulder to keep her quiet. "Yes please, that would be nice."

"Got it." Jackson said going back to his work.

"What is this supposed to be?" Chloe asked. "Tests show fragmented polypeptide sequences in an ultra excited state?"

"It supposed to be, tests show fragmented polypeptide sequences in an ultra excited state." Jackson told her. "Trust me, I know everything."

"Yeah?" Chloe asked. "A few days ago you kept saying you didn't know anything."

"Yeah, I lied." Jackson smiled.

"You made that up." Chloe said. "Polypeptide is so not a word."

"A polypeptide is a peptide that consists of two or more amino acids." Oliver said from the other room on the bed where he was watching television. Jackson and Chloe turned to Oliver confused. "I know things." Oliver said defensively. "I may not know auditory but I know things."

Jackson chuckled. "Keep typing." Chloe said to Jackson. She got up and went into the bedroom, closed the door and laid down next to Oliver. "I know you know stuff." Chloe told him and he looked away from her back at the television. She grabbed the remote and turned the television off. "Hey." She pulled his face to her. "You're the one who comes up with all those arrows." She told him, he smiled slightly. "Those are really cool arrows." She told him. "You're the head of a multi billion dollar technological empire."

"I inherited that." He pointed out.

"Yeah and your profits doubled in the first six months after you took over." She smiled at him. "You have to know something to be able to do that."

"I guess." He said smiling down at her.

"You know your more than just the muscle right?" Chloe asked him.

"Who said that?" Oliver asked. "You think I'm only the muscle?"

Chloe looked up at him and was about to defend herself, defend him when she saw the smirk on his face. "You bastard." Chloe slapped him. "You were playing me."

"It's nice to hear some good things about yourself every once and a while." Oliver scoffed. "You never tell me I'm pretty anymore." Chloe grabbed a pillow and slapped him across the face with it. "You never tell me I look nice when we go to parties." She started to smack him again and he grabbed her arms and rolled over until he was on top of her. "You didn't notice when I cut my hair." He told her.

"You cut your hair ever other Tuesday. I'm supposed to say something every time." Chloe told him.

"How do you know I cut my hair every other Tuesday?" Oliver asked seriously.

"I notice things." Chloe said smiling softly.

"Yeah?" Oliver said. "What else do you notice?"

"Well I can always tell what kind of day you had at work by what you drink at night." She told him. "Like a good day is a beer, a bad day is scotch, and a really bad day is a double. I notice that when I touch this spot," she ran her hand up from his knee to his thigh, "You always open your mouth in surprise." Sure enough his mouth opened involuntarily. Oliver looked down at her and kissed her softly. "What was that for?"

"Noticing." He said to her. "Where was that spot again?" He asked kissing her.

"Hey, are you guys in there doing it while I'm out here working?" Jackson screamed through the door. Chloe pulled away and chuckled. "Cause I'm not down with that."

"I swear. People think all we do is have sex." Chloe pulled herself off the bed.

"We should prove them right." Oliver waggled his eyebrows.

"Come on, let's go exercise that brain of yours." Chloe grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the room.

* * *

It took another two days for Jackson to finish writing what he'd over heard or what he'd happened to see. "Thanks Jackson." Chloe yawned as he got up to leave. "You have no idea how much this is going to help us."

"Well I've told you everything I know."

"And we appreciate it." Chloe assured him. "Is there anything we can do for you? Anything you need, want?"

"Yeah." Jackson said. "No offense, you guys seem really cool and all but I want to never see you again."

"You'd be surprised how often we get that." Chloe smiled at him.

"No, I don't think I would." Jackson said walking out of the hotel room.

Chloe looked at the computer, the 100 page document that Jackson just finished, and then through the door and at the bed, where Oliver was passed out. There was no contest. She kicked off her shoes and climbed in the bed next to him, not even bothering to change her clothes. "Did he finish?" Oliver mumbled tossing his arm around her waist.

"Yeah." Chloe yawned and closed her eyes.

"Did we find her?"

"I don't know yet." Chloe said. "I'm so tired my eyes are crossing. I just need a little rest before I start going through it all."

"You can sleep Chloe." Oliver told her. "It is allowed."

"Just a minute." She said.

* * *

Chloe and Oliver got back to Star City late the next day. They walked into her apartment and were surprised to find all the guys sitting around the table with little stacks of paper all over the place. "This one goes in the Medical stack." AC said handing a sheet over to Bart who laid it down next to him in a pile without even looking.

"What's going on?" Chloe took off her coat and walked over.

They all looked up surprised. They had been so engrossed in the work they didn't even hear Chloe and Oliver come in. "Oh, hey." Victor said getting up and going to the kitchen. "We're sorting through the rest of the stuff now. We printed each thing on a separate piece of paper and we're organizing them by subject, so it'll be easier to cross reference later." He poured himself a cup of coffee.

Chloe smiled. She'd trained her guys well. When she first started working with them, Bart constantly reminded her that he was there for speed and not brains. He left all the research and investigation to Chloe. AC never bothered with it either and Victor usually got the info for her and then left her to sort through it all on her own. But here they were, all of them, going through the pages, working through the problem, figuring it all out. "Is this Medical or Subject?" Bart asked showing AC his page.

"Subject." AC said after reading it over and Bart put the paper down in another pile.

"Let me change my clothes and then I'll jump in." Chloe said.

"I'd love to help but I've been out of the office for four days now." Oliver sighed. "I'll get back as soon as I can."

"No worries boss." Bart smiled. "We got it covered."

* * *

It took a week to get through everything. Another two weeks to cross reference it all with their files and do a little more research. And a full three months before Chloe finally managed to put it all together and get the big picture. Everyone sat around Chloe's kitchen table, exhausted, mentally drained and completely and utterly speechless as she explained what she'd found to them. Bart opened his mouth and then closed it. AC scratched his head, looked at Chloe, looked up at the monitor she'd been using, glanced around the table and then scratched his head again. Victor just stared ahead intently, a look of satisfaction on his face and Oliver stood up from his chair to pace for a minute before sitting back down, unsure of what to do with himself. "Could you repeat that please?" Bart finally asked.

"This is it." Chloe said motioning to the map. "Every single one of Lex's 33.1 labs, all that's left."

They all looked up at the map again, it was a basic map of the world, nothing special about it, all the continents were there, the oceans. It even had the mountain range elevations and faint longitude and latitude lines. But what made it beautiful, what made it to single most wonderful thing that any of the guys had ever laid eyes on were the six small red dots scattered around. "All of them?" Victor asked.

"Every last one." Chloe said smiling.

"That can't be right can it?" AC asked the table at large. "Six? Really? That's it?"

"There's got to be a mistake." Oliver shook his head.

"No, no mistake." Chloe laughed. "Trust me I didn't believe it a first either. I figured this out a week ago and it's taken me this long to believe it myself."

"Those six." Bart said. "So you're saying, we take out those six little red dots and Luther's done?"

"For a while yeah." Chloe smiled. "We'd take out everything he had, all his facilities, all his research, years and years of test results, not to mention test subjects. He'd be dead in the water."

"Until he started up again." Oliver pointed out.

"I'm not saying this will end everything." Chloe said. "I'm not naive. But it'll hurt him, worse than anything we've done before."

"Could we really do this?" Victor whispered.

"I think we can." Chloe smiled and turned to Oliver. Victor, AC and Bart all followed suit. He was still staring up at the map, a slow smile coming to his face.

"We can do this." He looked at all of them. "Let's start working on a battle plan."

"Battle plan?" Chloe asked. "You make it sound like we're going to war."

"Yeah." He said. "Once Lex's figures out what we're doing that's exactly what it's going to be."

They put together their strategy pretty quickly. Based on locations, what they suspected Lex was doing in the lab, and how easily they figured they could get in an out, they planned their route. It would take two months to get it done, going to one lab, clearing them out, getting whatever information they could and making sure the subjects that Lex had were safe, blowing the place to smithereens and then moving on to do it all over again at the next one.

* * *

It was a strange feeling Chloe realized, standing next to Oliver in the bathroom after everyone had gone home and brushing her teeth as he did the same. They'd just planned the thing that they'd been working toward for over ten years now. It would be done, Lex would be finished and for some reason all she could think about was whether or not she should switch to the toothpaste with baking soda. She pulled her hair back and spit in the sink and then looked at Oliver in the mirror. "How am I supposed to be feeling right now?" She asked.

He looked at her confused for a second and then leaned over the sink and spit too. "What do you mean?"

She rinsed her mouth and set her toothbrush in the holder before turning to face him as he flossed. "I mean, I know now that everything I've ever done in my life has been to lead me up to this moment, preparing me for what we're going to do." She leaned against the counter. "And in a month it will be finished."

"It'll never be finished." Oliver said tossing the floss in the trash can.

"No, I know." Chloe shook her head. "But Lex will, he'll be severely set back at least. I guess what I'm trying to say its…then what?"

"We go on to the next guy." Oliver said but Chloe didn't look convinced. "What aren't you asking me?"

"Then what about us?" She looked away from him, suddenly she was that insecure tenth grader asking Clark Kent to prom.

Strong fingers gently gripped her chin and turned her head and she saw herself staring into the impossibly blue, completely serious eyes of Oliver. "Then we live happily ever after." He told her.

"What if the only thing holding us together, holding all of us together, is Lex? If I'm perfectly honest with myself that's why I started this. I didn't accept your offer for noble reasons of Truth and Justice, I did it to take down Lex."

"Well that's why Victor joined, and AC, Bart's not to fond of him either." Oliver smiled. "When I found those guys, I knew how to bring them in, promise them revenge on the man who tortured them, tried to ruin their lives. But that's not why they stayed. That's not all they want now." He looked down at her. "That might be what got you here, but is that why you stayed? Is that why you did everything you did, your training, all of it? Is that why your still here?"

"Of course not." She said to him.

"Good." Oliver smiled. "Because that's not why I'm still here and that's not why I'm gonna be here. Why I'm gonna stay?"

"Why are you gonna stay?" Chloe asked her voice barely above a whisper.

"I thought that was fairly obvious." Oliver smiled at her. "For the cake."

"A man can't live on cake alone?" Chloe said, willing herself not to go weak at the knees.

"This one can." He assured her. "If I have nothing in my life until my dying day but cake, I'd be the happiest man alive."

"And the fattest." Chloe joked, the situation suddenly far more serious than she wanted it to become.

"But I'd be happy." He told her.

"Are we really gonna do this?" Chloe smiled.

"Yeah." Oliver said. "We are."

* * *

Two and a half weeks later, three labs down, and the excitement, the enormity of the situation still hadn't fully hit home yet. It wouldn't until they attempted to take down the fourth of their targets, when it would become obvious Lex had caught on to their plan.

"Three labs?" Lex screamed into the phone. "Three labs gone in Two weeks. What exactly is it that I'm paying you such a large sum of money for?"

"Sir." A woman said on the other line. "There was no way to anticipate such a full scale attack."

"No way to anticipate?" Lex laughed humorlessly. "I've spent more than a hundred million dollars over the last ten years on the research and cultivation of a woman who can see into the future and you had no way of anticipating this?"

"With all due respect sir." The woman said. "When you accelerated the Cassandra program, there were unforeseen side effects."

"Yes, it made her more powerful." Lex pointed out.

"But it also caused some neurological problems that we weren't prepared for."

"I've read the report Doctor Rao." Lex said. "Figure out a way to work around that. They aren't going to stop at three, if they found those, they'll find the others."

"What should we do?" Doctor Rao asked.

"Burn it all." Lex said.

"Excuse me sir?" Doctor Rao asked confused.

"Destroy the evidence before they can get to it." Lex clarified.

"Everything?" She asked confused.

"Wipe the system, set fire to the hard copies, get rid of the samples, everything."

"And the subjects?" She asked in a whisper.

"We don't need them anymore. Pull the plug." Lex told her before hanging up the phone.

* * *

Chloe couldn't take her eyes off the scene in front of her. The rain poured down fat and hot, drenching her to the bone and still she stared across the street. It was hard to distinguish between the tears running down her cheek and the rain drops but it didn't matter. She practically felt him come up before she heard him, an umbrella was placed over her head and she wanted to push it away, wanted the rain to cover her, to cleanse her. "Who told on me?" She asked when a cup of coffee was passed to her.

"Bart." Oliver said. He didn't look down at her; his eyes were transfixed across the street just like hers were. "He was afraid you'd catch a cold."

"Why didn't he come get me?" Chloe sipped the coffee, exactly how she liked it.

"Because when AC did that yesterday you broke his nose." Oliver reminded her. Chloe tried to pull up some sort of proper feeling for that remark, shame, sorrow, humor, anger, but nothing came, she was empty. "Are you going to break my nose?"

"Are you going to try and drag me away?" Chloe asked.

"I'm not stupid." Oliver shook his head.

"Then you're nose is safe." She assured him.

"You gonna have this pity party for much longer?" Oliver sighed. This got her attention and she turned her head sharply to face him. "Someone had to say it Chloe. It's over. We won."

"This is your definition of winning?" Chloe asked.

"This is a definition of winning." Oliver shrugged.

"This isn't winning." She said sadly. "This was murder."

The three remaining complexes, the last of Lex's 33.1 labs were gone, but not by their hands, not according to their plans. Lex did it. One after the other he destroyed his own facilities before they could. "There were subjects still in them." Chloe reminded him. "You've seen the surveillance footage; he didn't evacuate a single building. He just let them burn with everything else. Got rid of the evidence. He killed fifteen people just so we couldn't get to them first." The tears came out harder now and Oliver wanted to put his hand over her shoulder, wanted to hold her close and let her cry but he couldn't do that. "Cassandra was in one of those labs, did you realize that? She wasn't in the first three, and we've been watching all the others, she had to be in there. She asked us for help and we got her killed."

"But we got rid of the labs." Oliver reminded her.

"How can you be so callus, all of you?" She screamed. "Bart and AC were celebrating yesterday, drinking champagne."

"Because we won." Oliver said again.

Chloe glared at him and turned to storm away. Oliver grabbed her elbow and she spun around, into him and slammed her elbow into his stomach. He let go of her arm as he stumbled back a few steps and dropped the umbrella so he could shoot his hands out just in time to grab onto her ankle and stop her foot from coming into contact with the side of his head. "Is something wrong honey?" Oliver asked pulling her ankle towards him which caused her to lose her footing and fall to the ground. She pulled herself up threw her right hand out, Oliver blocked the punch. "I hate it when we fight like this."

"Are you trying to piss me off?" Chloe asked panting in the rain as swung at him again, and again he blocked it.

"Yes." Oliver said grabbing her wrist and twisting it behind her back. She shot her foot out and connected with his shins forcing him to release her. "Is it working?"

"Yes." She practically growled at him as they started to circle each other.

"Good."

"What are you talking about?" She asked him.

"I can't have you sad right now, blaming yourself for what happened." Oliver explained.

"Why not?" Chloe pushed the wet hair out of her face.

"Because the last time you felt like this you left me for three years." He reminded her. "I need you angry, I need you so mad that you can't see straight and I need that anger directed at Lex, where it belongs."

"I don't understand." Chloe said, deflating a little.

"We're not done yet." Oliver told her. She stopped walking and just stared at Oliver.

"What do you mean we're not done yet?" Chloe asked.

"There's another lab." Oliver told her. "One that no one knew about, one that you never would have found on your own, and he didn't blow this one up."

"Another lab?" Chloe asked confused.

"Oh yeah, and this one's a real dozy." Oliver held out his hand. "You want to hear more?"

Chloe looked behind Oliver's shoulder at ruble and then back at Oliver's hand. "You know it." She smiled and he pulled her down the street, back to their hotel room.

"I thought you said my nose was safe." Oliver rubbed his stomach.

"Did I hit your nose?" Chloe asked him.

* * *

Chloe dried off and changed her clothes, profusely apologized to AC for breaking his nose and promised to make him his favorite foods for a week when they got back home. Oliver gathered them all around the table at the hotel room. "I got a call from Jackson today." Oliver said. "There was something he remembered, something he forgot to tell us."

"That Lex was a psycho?" AC asked.

"You didn't know that already?" Victor joked.

"There's another compound." Oliver said and they turned their attention back to him.

"I thought that there were only six." Bart said.

"We were wrong." Oliver tilted his head to Chloe. "Through no fault of the wonderful and talented Watchtower of course. None of us could have seen this one coming. "

"Enough with the suspense already. Let's see it, work out a plan, get down to business." Bart said.

"You want to see it?" Oliver smiled. He pushed a button and an image came up on the screen so ridiculous, so unbelievable that it took five minutes for all of them to wrap their heads around it.

"How the hell are we supposed to get in there?" Bart asked.

"That is the million dollar question." Oliver said to them. "So find me the answer." They looked back at the picture on the screen and then at Oliver again. Bart raised his hand and Oliver nodded at him.

"If we figure it out, do we get the million dollars?" Bart asked so seriously that Oliver was tempted to say yes.

* * *

Chloe really hated having to do it but she had to admit, Lex was pretty ingenious actually. He managed to find the worst and the best place to have a super secret compound. After spending three days staring at a picture and coming up with nothing, Oliver brought them out to India.

They were standing in the middle of a bridge that spanned and enormous canyon. The bridge went on for a mile in either direction and it was a mile and a half down to the raging river at the bottom. The facility itself was inside the canyon. Chloe was staring at it through a set of very high powered binoculars. There were five very large concrete and steel posts that went far into the ground and about five hundred feet up. The foundation was built on top of the posts and spread out almost the whole width of the canyon. There was a ten foot ledge around the building with a twenty foot tall fence all around.

There were no steps, no ladder, no bridges, no slides. There was absolutely no way to get to the lab unless you flew into the helicopter pad, which didn't matter because there was no way to get out. "Let me look for a minute." Bart whined. Chloe passed him the binoculars and grabbed a piece of licorice from the bag Victor was holding. She took a big bite and leaned on the railing of the bridge.

"Wow, it looks even more impossible up close doesn't it?" Chloe pouted.

"Maybe we could scale down the side of the canyon, and…" AC pushed out with his hands. "You know jump." He looked at them. "To the roof."

Victor, Oliver, and Chloe turned to look at him with the most incredulous look on their faces. He raised his eyebrows asking for a reason why not. Chloe snatched the binoculars from Bart without looking. "Hey!" He cried and Victor passed him a piece of licorice.

Chloe turned to the facility and flicked a switch on the binoculars. "There is a minimum of 600 feet between the wall of the canyon and the roof. When was the last time you managed a cold 600 foot, horizontal jump?"

"Right, new plan." AC sighed and Bart snatched the binoculars back.

"Could we…" Oliver started.

"No." Chloe shook her head.

Oliver got up from standing next to Bart and walked to stand next to AC. "What about…"

"Wouldn't work." Chloe said.

Victor and AC looked between the two of them and shook their heads. "You guys are freaky."

Chloe stood up straighter. "What if we…"

"No." Oliver shook his head. Oliver shook his head. "Even if we could get an elephant, we don't have the time to train it."

"Please tell me you weren't actually thinking about using an elephant?" Victor asked Chloe.

"Elephants are versatile and intelligent creatures Victor. You have no idea what they're capable of." Chloe grabbed another licorice stick and bit into it.

"Hannibal crossed the Alps on an Elephants." Oliver added.

"Guys." Bart said, practically jumping up and down with excitement. "Better get out your check book boss man, I think I found our way in." They all waited on pins and needles for him to continue.

"Do you plan on sharing with the rest of the class?" Oliver asked.

"Not yet." Bart said. "I need to do a little more research."

Chloe choked on her candy and Victor smacked her on the back. "Sorry you're going to do a little what now?"

"Hey, this is for the big bucks. I want to have everything worked out, all my ducks in a row. It's my idea. I want to see it through." He said.

"Ok." Oliver clapped his hands. "Let's get back home then."

"Can we stop somewhere first and get a video camera?" Chloe asked. "I really want to have this documented."

"Hey I've done research before." Bart said.

Chloe slung her arm over his shoulder and tousled his hair. "My little boys growing up so fast?"

"Do you have to mess with the hair?" Bart speeded out from under her arm.

* * *

Oliver walked out of his bedroom into the hall and stopped dead in his tracks. Chloe, Victor, and AC were sitting on the ground, their feet dangling through the bars of the railing and had their heads pressed up as close as they could, like kids spying on their parents.

"Did you know he could type?" Chloe asked. "I didn't know he could type." She stuffed another handful of popcorn in her mouth.

"He's doing it right to." Victor pointed. "He's got the hand placement down. He's not doing the hunt and peck, like some people." Victor cut his eyes to AC.

"He hasn't even gone to Wikipedia once." AC pointed out. "That's real research dedication."

"He's writing something, can you see what he's writing?" Chloe stretched up to get a better view of the living area down stairs.

Oliver walked up behind them and looked down to see Bart working furiously at the table. He had papers and pads all over the place. "No, he changed angles the last time we tried to read over his shoulder." AC frowned.

"I can make him move." Chloe said. "Give me some popcorn." Victor passed her the bowl and she grabbed a handful and tossed it over the railing. It landed in his hair but he didn't move. She frowned and tossed another one, it hit him in the neck and rolled down his shirt.

He jumped up and slapped his hand against his neck and then bent down to pick up the piece of popcorn that fell out of his shirt and the one in his hair fell out too. He turned around confused and then looked up at them. "You guys are so juvenile you know that?" He gathered everything up and walked further away and the three of them started laughing.

"What are you guys doing?" Oliver asked and they all jumped in surprise and turned around, putting their heads down in shame because they know they got just got caught. He looked at AC and Victor and sighed. "Go do something productive." Victor took off in one direction while AC ran in the other. Chloe stood there, shuffling her feet and looked up at him with puppy dog eyes. "You know better."

"We're just having some fun." Chloe said. "Blowing off some steam, keeping ourselves from going crazy."

"I know." Oliver said smiling. "I just didn't want them to see me do this." He walked to the landing. "Hand me the popcorn."

Chloe smiled and grabbed the bowl handing it to Oliver.

Two days later Bart walked into the living room and smiled nervously. "I've got it, and it's gonna work."

"Lay it out for us." Oliver said.

The more of his plan that Bart explained the wearier and wearier they all became. "It'll work." He said as they all stood speechless. "Well I'm pretty sure it'll work, there are a few things we need to test on sight. But I can do this."

"A few?" Oliver asked running his fingers through his hair.

"Come on, anyone else come up with anything?" Bart looked around. "Besides scaling the wall and jumping?" Chloe opened her mouth. "Or Elephants?" She closed her mouth sheepishly. "I can do this guys."

"Ok." Chloe said. "It's the best plan we've got." She told Oliver.

He looked back at all the information Bart presented to him and sighed. "Fine, we'll start surveillance tomorrow."

"Yes." Bart smiled and jumped up.


	19. Chapter 19

A/N: This was a crappy place to leave it I know and there is more. Two maybe three Chapters at least. The next chapter should be up pretty soon, I just wanted to do one final edit, probably tomorrow so, enjoy!

* * *

It took two months to get all the information they needed and a few tweaks to the plan. Some of them were minor, like the time frame and some of them were major, like substituting Chloe in place of Bart, a change that Oliver was not pleased with.

"You really don't have to do this." Oliver said.

"Do you not want me to do this or do you not think I can do this?" Chloe asked grabbing her jacket off the back of her chair. He didn't say anything and she rolled her eyes and walked over to the table.

"Ok." Victor turned to Chloe. "We're going over this one more time."

"I understood the plan the first five times we went over it." Chloe assured him.

"Humor me." Victor shot her a look. "You're going in there blind and alone and…" He looked up at Oliver. "Are we sure we want her to do this?"

"I'm the only one that can do this. I start here." Chloe pointed to the edge of the canyon.

The thing that Bart had noticed was every ten miles or so along the top of the canyon there was a rope that extended over the opening from one side to the other, attached to poles that were driven deep into the ground. He did some research and found out they were used to pass things from one side to the other before bridges were built. Just their luck, there happened to be a supply line running right above the front of the building.

"So I'm going to pull myself along the rope until I get over the compound." Chloe said.

"The old, decaying, rotten rope." Oliver said.

"It's sturdy." Chloe said. "We tested it." That's what caused the substitution from Bart to Chloe. When they tested the weight that they were comfortable with the rope holding, it became obvious that it wasn't going to hold Bart's weight, but it would hold Chloe's.

"Yeah ok, but it's not like you're pulling yourself across a set of monkey bars." Oliver reminded her. "It's six hundred feet to the roof."

"I can make it." Chloe assured him.

"We'll let you know when you get over the roof." Victor said.

"Yeah so I'm still not comfortable with the whole her not being able to see." Oliver said.

Their first night doing recon they noticed that you couldn't see a single thing out there. The compound had lights outside but it didn't spread very far. "We'll be watching her progress with the night vision goggles." AC reminded him.

"And why can't she use the night vision goggles?"

"Because all the other stuff you're adding to my weight, I don't need anything else throwing off my balance." Chloe told him.

"Once you're over the roof, you'll drop."

"Six Thousand feet." Oliver mumbled.

"Hopefully six thousand feet." Victor said. "That's the stretch we've estimated from the bungee cords."

"And if we achieve six thousand feet with the cord, the last drop will be less than twenty feet right?" Chloe asked and Victor nodded.

"Sure, Twenty feet's nothing after six thousand." Oliver sighed.

"Twenty feet is the farthest I've jumped without breaking a bone." Chloe explained for what felt like the millionth time.

"We estimated eighteen feet from the rope to the roof but we're pretty sure it's less than that." Victor said.

"I love when we go into a plan with "pretty sure"." Oliver snapped.

"Actually." Chloe turned her head to glare at him. "You do love that. When it's you." She turned back to Victor. "So you'll be on the com's the whole time right?"

"We'll be on the ledge watching with the night vision goggles, I'll let you know when you're over the roof." Victor said for Oliver's benefit and not really Chloe's. "Then it's up to you." Chloe nodded. "If our information is accurate, as soon as you hit the roof, the connections going to go dead, you're communicator won't work, you're wrist monitor will be a giant useless bracelet and if you've got a digital watch, it's gonna fry."

"Explain this to me again?" AC asked.

"Supposedly Lex managed to create a shield."

"Force field." Bart butted in.

"Ok, a force field around the compound, it's basically a constant EMP signal that fries anything electrical that goes through it." Victor said. "Ok, I'm starting to have second thoughts about this myself." Victor turned to Chloe. "This is ridiculous."

"You want to go in gun's blazing?" Chloe asked. "Announce our presence with a bang and let them destroy everything before we can even get to it?"

"No." Oliver sighed.

"Right then, let's get going." Chloe said.

"Wait, now?" Oliver asked.

"That was the plan." Chloe groaned. This whole thing was starting to bother her.

"This plan is full of what ifs." Oliver said. "I just…I don't know if I want to go through with it anymore."

"We can't just back out now." Chloe said. "We've been over it a hundred times."

"Then we'll go over it a hundred more." Oliver screamed.

"I'm doing this Oliver, you're just going to have to deal with that." Chloe said.

"Ok, so your saying that I'm not supposed to be worried about the fact that you're going to pull yourself along a very old, possibly unstable and rotten rope six hundred feet out and then drop yourself onto a roof that's over six thousand feet down. Oh yeah and you'll be doing it all in the dark, and not like big city dark, like out in the jungle dark where the stars don't even give off a hint of light so you can't even see whether you're over the roof, or over a thousand foot drop to a river that white water rafters don't even attempt to go in, and then scale the side of the building, break into the compound, whose security don't even have an inkling about and we have, as of yet, failed to come up with a plan to get you out of there." He screamed.

Victor, AC, and Bart backed away from the table slowly. "She's gonna blow." Bart whispered.

"This is not gonna be good." Victor said and elbowed AC. "Grab the goggles, get them out of throwing range."

AC picked up the night vision goggles quickly and backed away. "Ten bucks on Chloe."

"Please." Bart scoffed. "No bet."

Chloe turned around annoyed and glared at the three of them and then back at Oliver. "Bedroom." She grabbed his arm. "Now." She stomped off pulling him with her. The door slammed behind her and they guys all looked at each other before running to the door and sticking their ears up to it.

"First of all, that out there, was out of line." Chloe screamed. "There is no scenario where it's ok to yell at me like that in front of them. You spout out all this bullshit about how this is a partnership and we're in this together and then you try and pull rank on me like that. It's degrading and it undermines me."

"At this moment." Oliver yelled. "That matters very little to me."

"Oh, thank you for that." She snapped.

"This plan is ridiculous even for us Chloe." Oliver said. "I don't like it."

"No, you don't trust me when I say I can do it." She pointed out. "I have proven myself over and over again and still you treat me like I'm this uncertain little computer geek who showed up on your doorstep ten years ago and I am getting tired of it." They heard a crash of something breaking.

"I trust you." Oliver said. "I know what you're capable of, and that's not how I see you at all." He told her. "I have no doubt in your ability. But I can't control the situation, I can't control the rope, I can't control the bungee cords and I can't control the fact that you falling six thousand feet onto a roof worries me more than I can even articulate."

"So that's what this is about?" Chloe scoffed. "Is this how it's going to be from now on? You had no problem when I did all those things I did for you before. What so now that we're together I'm going to be treated differently. We're going to the coddle Chloe plan?"

"Yes." Oliver screamed so loud the guys jumped. "Yes, that's the plan. Before I even knew I loved you, before and after you got all your fancy training, I worried, every mission you went on, every job you did, my stomach tied up in knots because I'm responsible for you, for bringing you here, for what happens to you. And no, I'm not going to apologize for wanting you to be safe, to be alive."

"You are not responsible for me." Chloe said. "I am responsible for me. I am responsible for what happens to me, for what I do."

"No you're not Chloe." Oliver told her. "It's like you don't even realize, you're actions effect everyone. Seven years ago Lionel Luthor walked through my door holding your dead body. I sat on the couch next to you for eighteen hours and even thought I knew you were gonna wake up it didn't change how I felt. It didn't change the feeling in the pit of my stomach when I looked at you, lying there, not breathing."

They were quiet for a while and Victor and AC looked at each other confused. "I can't apologize for that, I'm sorry how it made you feel but not that I did it. I can't put my life on hold, live in a padded room without sharp edges just to keep you worry free. I can't and I won't and you're going to have to live with that." Chloe said, her voice was so calm, so un moving it was scary. "I've got a job to do." They heard her walking to the door and quickly backed away. She stormed out of the room and to the table where she grabbed up her things and walked to the door. "Am I doing this on my own?" She asked.

AC, Bart, and Victor followed her and Oliver was a few paces behind them.

* * *

"This isn't going to work." Chloe said annoyed. 

"You don't have to do this, we can leave now." Oliver whispered to her.

"What?" Chloe said confused. "I'm talking about the gloves." She pulled them off her hands. "I'm not going to be able to get a grip with those on."

"You're gonna tear up your hands." Oliver said again.

"Maybe." She shrugged. "They'll heal."

"Chloe…" Oliver grabbed her hand and turned her to look at him. "I don't want you to go out there…with this thing hanging between us."

"I can't change who I am Oliver."

"I don't want you to change." He sighed. "That's who I fell in love with. The girl that walks into danger because she thinks she has to, because she thinks she needs to, without question, without hesitation. But I'm gonna worry." Oliver told her. "And it's not fair and it's not right but I'm gonna worry more now that we're together, it's just the way things are."

"Can I hit you if you get over protective?" Chloe asked smirking a little.

"Maybe." Oliver said. "We'll work out the details later. Are you sure you can do this?"

Chloe looked out at the rope and nodded. "I can do this." She said.

He helped to load the bag with the bungee cords onto her back and then attached the harness, made sure it was nice and tight.

"Play nice with the other kids." She smoothed down his hair. "Don't be pick any unnecessary fights, and don't use any of those cheesy lines you love so much I may think it's charming but it only pisses everyone else off."

"I'll be fine mom." Oliver grabbed her hands. "I'm more worried about you."

"Me?" She smiled. "You don't have to worry about me. I'll be back. And you'd better have cake." She walked over to the rope and grabbed on then turned around. "Hey." Oliver looked over to her, she opened her mouth but nothing came out.

"What?" Oliver walked over to her.

"This isn't the optimal place or optimal time for this I know believe me…" She rung her hands.

"Are you…are you breaking up with me?" Oliver chuckled.

"No." Chloe laughed nervously. "I just wanted to let you know that…" She trailed off unable to articulate herself and grabbed his neck and kissed him hard. She pulled away and rested her forehead against his. Oliver looked confused. "I love you." She said. It was out there now. He'd told her a dozen times but she hadn't been ready, and she wasn't sure why she felt this was the right time but somehow it just was.

He stared at her for a second before quirking his lips in a smile. He pulled her into a hug and kissed her forehead. "You're wrong." He said to her. "It was the perfect time." He kissed her softly.

She grabbed onto the rope then swung herself over the side of the cliff. Slowly but steadily she moved further down the rope, one hand in front of each other. She'd only gone about five feet when she felt the blood start to drip down her arm.

"You're doing good." Victor said. "Just remember to breathe."

"Why does everyone tell me that." Chloe groaned moving another three feet. "Do you people think I'm gonna forget?" She asked.

"Who people?" Victor asked confused.

* * *

"_Mindful breath." Bruce screamed from his spot on the floor. Chloe looked down at him and resisted the urge to drop a logy in his hair. She figured if it fell from 20 feet up, there was a chance it could knock him out. "Block out the pain." He said to her and she lifted her head up and looked straight ahead, concentrated on the wall in front of her, the other side of the wire, the platform that signaled she was done. She took a deep breath in and out keeping her eye on the platform. She slowly removed her right hand from the barbed wire she was dangling from, twenty feet up in the cave and let it drop at her side, trying to aim some of the blood at Bruce, she did her breathing and swung the arm up again, further in front of her. She grabbed on to the wire and ignored the pain when the barbs dug fresh holes in her already torn up hands. She carefully released her other hand and swung it around. She continued her breathing exercises as she slowly made her way across the strand of wire to the other side. _

* * *

"You're almost there Watchtower." Victor said in her out of her thoughts. 

She was going to have to trust him, she couldn't see anything. It was exhilarating and terrifying all at the same time. It felt as if she was hanging in the middle of nothing. She couldn't see anything below her, beside her or on top of her. "You're there." Victor said and his voice now sounded as nervous as she felt.

"I'm gonna take a minute." Chloe told him as she dropped one arm and grabbed the bag from her back, then alternating hands so she could take it off. When she got the bag off she hooked it onto the rope and then opened it, pulling out one end of the cord and hooking it on the rope and the other end of the cord and hooked it onto her harness. She pulled the rest of the cord out of the bag and let it fall down and hang there. She took a deep breath. "You sure I'm there?"

"You don't trust me?" Victor tried to joke.

Chloe wanted to laugh, but she couldn't.

* * *

"_Do you trust me?" Bruce asked. _

"_Yes." Chloe said. _

"_Close your eyes." She obeyed without protest and continued to move along the wire. "Let go." Bruce said and without thinking, without questioning Chloe released her hands from the wire and allowed herself to drop. She didn't know if she'd made it to the platform yet or not, she'd know if she didn't hit it in a second, which she didn't so she braced herself for the impact on the ground. The cave floor was hard but if she hit at the right angle she could probably get away with a broken ankle instead of a broken femur. _

_But the impact never happened. She fell on something but, something soft. She opened her eyes and noticed that she was in Bruce's arms. He lowered her to the ground and she stood up shakily. "Wrap your hands and come to dinner." He said walking away. _

_Chloe followed him back up her hands leaving drops of blood like a trail all the way through the caves. _

* * *

There was no one at the bottom to catch her this time, no one to make sure she made it ok. She trusted Victor to the ends of the earth but he was at an odd angle, twenty degrees in any wrong direction and she was falling into the water. "I'll be back for diner." She said as she prepared to let go. 

"What do you want to eat?" He joked.

"Not steak." She said before letting go and falling to the roof.

Alfred wrapped her hands and she walked into the dining room to see Bruce all ready eating. He was eating steak. Chloe glared at him as she sat down in her seat, steak required two hands to eat, Chloe didn't have one good one. Alfred came forward and reached for her knife, ready to cut her steak up for her. Bruce paused with his fork halfway to his mouth. Chloe glared at him and grabbed the knife and fork from Alfred and cut the steak herself. She wanted to scream, to cry out in pain but she didn't. Instead she speared a piece of steak and angrily chewed as she stared at Bruce.

"_You're crazy you know that?" He asked as blood started to seep through her bandages._

"_That was your stupid exercise." Chloe pointed out grabbing her glass of wine and taking a sip as angrily as she could sip wine._

"_Crazy." Bruce shook his head. _

* * *

She got a glimpse of the roof as she made it to the edge of her bungee cord. When she was settled and she stopped bouncing she looked down at the roof, unclipped the cord and went into her free fall. She rolled as she hit and come to a stop before catching her breath. "Holy shit that actually worked." Chloe smiled as she made her way to the ledge to determine the best way down. 

Victor dropped the night vision goggles and sighed in relief. "She made it." He said.

"Safely?" Oliver asked.

"She got right back up. No broken bones."

"That's my girl." Oliver smiled. "All right. That's out of the way, let's get to phase two."

"Phase two?" AC asked confused. "There is no phase two. Do you guys remember anyone talking about a phase two."

"Phase two was a secret." Oliver said pulling out his phone. "Why do you think I made you guys suit up? To come stand on a cliff and watch her?"

"Well…" Bart looked around. "Now that you mention it, I did think that was a little strange."

"Ok." He took a deep breath. "Time to call in the Calvary."

"What Calvary?" Victor asked. "What are you talking about?"

"You'll see." Oliver smiled.

* * *

Chloe jumped the last few feet to the ground and walked the perimeter, searching for an entry point. "Freeze." She stopped dead in her tracks. "Hands up, turn around." Chloe obeyed and turned to face the guard. He pulled her hood off and took her glasses from her. She smiled at him and then shot her arm out, knocking the gun from his hand and punching him right across the jaw. He went down and Chloe reached for the gun when she heard a noise behind her. 

"Freeze. Step away from the gun." Chloe did as she was told, moving back slowly as the first guard picked up himself and then his gun. "She was right there, where the crazy chick said she'd be. Where the hell did you come from?" The second guard asked. She smiled at him and then looked up. He followed her gaze but didn't see anything. "Let's go." He said motioning for her to move forward.

Chloe walked and passed them up. One pushed her forward with a gun at her back until they came to a door. He swiped his card and punched in a code before it opened. The distinction between outside and in was night and day. The whole interior of the building was bright lights and stainless steel and Chloe literally felt like she was walking into another planet. "Sterile." She said. "Not really my style, I like earth tones, a little brown, maybe some blues, definitely green." He poked her in the back and she moved forward into another room. "You're not very talkative." Chloe shrugged. "Ok, that's fine."

"Sit here." The other guard shoved her into a chair and grabbed the phone. "Mr. Luthor, you said to call if anything happened. Well we caught a leather clad ninja lady jumping off the roof, figured you want to know. No she was alone. Very good sir." He hung up the phone and turned to the other one. "He's on his way. Well, you're in for a treat."

"Am I?" Chloe asked. They pulled her out of the chair and moved her along to another room.

"Mr. Luthor's been waiting to catch one of you guys for years. I expect to get a bonus the size of the United States deficit for this."

"You could use it to buy some deodorant." Chloe said. "Or are you going the MTV route and buy a big house and a garage full of cars?"

They shoved her through a door and she almost tripped. "Well I for one am excited. An audience with the king. Tell me the truth? Do I look ok?" She turned around. "I mean I guess my hair's probably all crazy from the drop, and I definitely shouldn't shake his hand." Chloe held up her bloody hands.

"Get in there." He pointed to a room, stainless steel walls, floor, and ceiling. With a glass front that slid open when the guard punched in a code.

"I'll make sure to tell him about your hospitality." Chloe said as he shoved her in and closed the door. There were holes cut out, she wasn't sure if it was for air or conversation but she screamed through them at the retreating guards. "Put in a good word for you. Maybe that bonus will be good enough we can get you a 24 carat gold bathtub." She looked around and smiled. "How do I go to the bathroom in here?"

"Pulls out of the wall." A voice said from the cell across from Chloe. "Right hand side, flushes by it's self, no lever. How does it do that?" The voice was a woman, confused, uncertain, a little scared. "You're a new person." She said. "No new people, I didn't see any new people, and I see everything."

"Cassandra?" Chloe ventured. "Janet."

"New person knows my name, my real name." The woman said, her voice shaky, and made her way into the light at the door to the cell as she mumbled to herself.

"Janet." Chloe said again. "It's me Watchtower, Chloe." Chloe looked at her confused, this was worse than she thought. They'd driven her crazy. This mumbling mess what not what she expected.

"Chloe?" She said her voice normal as she stood up straight. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Chloe stepped back surprised. "You…your not…"

"Crazy, no." Janet smiled. "I just act crazy and they leave me alone. I started to loose it for a while there but then I had a vision of you rescuing me and that helped me to hang on." She looked at Chloe standing behind her glass door. "So this is how you rescue people? I seriously over estimated you guys."

"Don't worry." Chloe smiled. "This is all part of the plan."

* * *

"Run that by me again?" Victor said. 

"She should have been caught by now." Oliver said. "If things go according to plan, they've put her in a cell and called in Lex."

"And this is the plan how?" AC asked.

"Chloe's just the opening act." Oliver said.

"We're the Main Event." A voice said from behind them and they turned to see Clark and Kara floating a little way above the ground and smiling.

"Did I miss all the fun?" Another voice called from beside them and a man in black lowered himself from the tree's above them, it was Batman.

"Don't worry you big old Bat." Another voice said. "We'd never start without you." A man in a red and blue suit came swinging on what looked like a white vine out of the trees and landed gracefully on the ground. Spiderman.

Victor, AC, and Bart looked around more confused than they were before.

"I am so confused." Bart said. "Is anyone else confused?"

Victor and AC both raised their hands. "Right there with you." Victor said.

"Good." Oliver smiled. "That means they will be too. It's all a part of the plan."

"Ok, but since we're part of the plan can we get some sort of explanation?"

"I never heard from Jackson." Oliver said. "He never called with new information."

* * *

One Month Ago 

"_There's another lab." Oliver told her. "One that no one knew about, one that you never would have found on your own, and he didn't blow this one up." _

_  
"Another lab?" Chloe asked confused. _

"_Oh yeah, and this one's a real dozy." Oliver held out his hand. "You want to hear more?" _

_Chloe looked behind Oliver's shoulder at ruble and then back at Oliver's hand. "You know it." She smiled and he pulled her down the street, back to their hotel room. _

"_I thought you said my nose was safe." Oliver rubbed his stomach. _

"_Did I hit your nose?" Chloe asked him and looked around the street. "This isn't the way to the hotel." _

"_No." Oliver said. "It isn't. We're meeting someone, someone who can help us." He led her down a back alley and into a warehouse. _

"_I hate warehouses." Chloe mumbled. _

"_Is she here?" A woman called from the shadows of the warehouse._

_  
"She who?" Chloe called into the shadow. "She me?" _

_  
High heels clicked on the concrete floor and suddenly the last person on the entire earth that she expected to see there, besides Lex Luther, walked into the light. "Dr. Rao?" Chloe looked from Oliver to the Doctor then to Oliver again. "Are you evil? Did something turn you evil?" She took a step back. "Is that why you fought with me on the street?"_

"_I didn't fight with you, I protected myself, and I am not evil." _

"_But she's evil." Chloe pointed out as if he didn't know._

"_I know." Oliver smiled. _

"_No I'm not." She protested. Chloe raised an eyebrow at her. "I guess from your perspective I was a little evil." _

"_A little?" Chloe scoffed. "You kidnapped and experimented on innocent people." _

"_Not at first." She took a step closer and Chloe moved back. "At first it was just tests, on plants, animals, then blood samples, the people didn't come until later and then it was too late." _

"_Don't." Chloe held up her hand. "Don't stand here and try and justify what you've done." She turned to Oliver. "Why are we talking to her?"_

"_Because she knows everything we don't about Lex." Oliver said. "And she's going to tell us." _

_  
"How do we know we can trust her?" Chloe asked. _

"_How do you think I knew who to come to? Who to find? I know who you are, who you really are." Chloe raised an eyebrow. "You're the one they call Watchtower, and he is the Green Arrow. I haven't told Lex, I've known for years now, and I haven't said anything." _

_  
"Why?" Chloe glared. _

"_Because I like what you do." Dr. Rao said. "I thought I could handle it at first. Handle what we were doing. I bought into his whole line, his whole story. How we were doing it for the greater good. Getting ready for the inevitable invasion, to save the human race." _

"_He was always so dramatic." Chloe rolled her eyes. _

"_But ten years and no invasion." Dr. Rao said. "And we were taking more and more people, people who didn't even know what they were, what powers they had." _

"_Were you there?" Chloe asked. "When they took me?" _

"_Yes." She answered quietly. _

_Chloe nodded and then punched her in the face. "Chloe!" Oliver grabbed her as Dr. Rao put a hand to her nose, it was bleeding, probably broken. _

"_What?" She asked shaking out her hand. "I never promised not to break her nose." _

"_Do you feel better?" Dr. Rao asked. _

"_Much." Chloe said. "Let's get down to business." _

_Oliver pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and handed it over. "Thank you." Dr. Rao said. "After you took out the first three labs, Mr. Luthor was, believably upset. He ordered the other labs destroyed before you could get there." _

_  
"The fact that he was willing to destroy all his work to keep it from us means we did something right?" Oliver smiled. _

_  
Dr. Rao said. "He didn't destroy anything." She shook her head. "A few years ago, when construction was completed on the main lab, everything was sent there as a back up. Every day, every lab backs up to the main lab." _

"_So you mean that for three years, we haven't actually destroyed anything?" Chloe asked. _

_  
"Well you destroyed equipment, facilities." Dr. Rao said. "But not research, not information." _

"_Well, this is a very productive meeting. I'm so glad to know that the past three years of our lives have meant nothing." Chloe looked at Oliver. "This is like the best day ever." _

"_Just listen." Oliver said. _

"_He didn't care if they were destroyed because he wouldn't lose anything." Dr. Rao explained. _

"_He lost the labs." Oliver said. _

"_He didn't need the labs anymore. He'd done what he needed to do, well, fairly close, he just needed a few test samples, which had been shipped to the main lab the week before anyway." _

"_When you say done what he needed to do, do you mean the cure?" Chloe asked. _

"_I mean the cure." Dr. Rao nodded. "I mean the cause." _

"_Both?" Oliver asked._

"_Yes both." Dr. Rao said. "Lex wanted to be the one in charge. He wanted to choose who he trusted, who he could control to have the powers, and…" _

"_Cure those who couldn't control?" Chloe said. _

"_Yes. He's only got a few more weeks, tops before he perfects everything." Dr. Rao said. "We have to stop him." _

"_You want to stop him?" Chloe asked. "Why?" _

"_I was the head of the Lex's genetic research team but I had a personal subject, one case that I was in complete control of. Project Cassandra." Chloe's head snapped up. _

"_She's dead." Chloe said. "You killed her. You know when you blew up your labs." _

"_She's not dead. No one's dead." Dr. Rao shook her head. "I got them out." Chloe seemed surprised. "I blew up the lab but I got them all out, their safe." _

"Where?"

"_They're on their way to our labs right now." Oliver said. _

"_How do you know all this?" Chloe asked him. _

"_She came to me yesterday. I don't know the whole story but she told me some things." Oliver said. _

"_Cassandra." Dr. Rao interrupted. "Was Lex's prize subject. He had a vested interest in her. He wanted her power for himself. The ability to see everything, to know everything, he saw it as the ultimate power. He was wrong. The visions she had weren't frequent enough, weren't powerful enough so he made us boost them." _

"_Boost?" Chloe asked. _

"The theory was that if a person had meteor powers already, giving them the meteor solution would enhance them, make them stronger." Dr. Rao said. "And he was right, but because of the nature of her powers. There were unforeseen side effects. She sees everything now, she can't turn it off, she sees horrible things and random things and it drove her a little crazy."

"_I don't like the needles, I can't close my eyes." Chloe murmured. _

"_How did you…she used to say that to me." Dr. Rao said surprised. _

"_That's what she told us." Chloe said. "She sent hidden messages in the letters to her sister, who passed them on to us." _

_Dr. Rao smiled. "I always wondered how you got your information. No offense meant to your investigation abilities." _

"_So she's crazy?" Oliver asked. _

"_She's unstable." Dr. Rao said. "And that's the first problem." _

"_The first problem?" Chloe wondered. _

"_If we're going to take down the main lab, we're going to have to get around her." Dr. Rao said. "She'll see us coming a mile away." _

"_But she would never sell us out." Chloe shook her head. _

"_Not on purpose. The mental instability allowed Lex to use her, to drug her and pull the visions from her without her even knowing." _

"_So we have to get past a super omnipotent spy, and break into a super secret lab that I didn't even know existed." Chloe shrugged. "Sure, then I'll solve world piece." _

"_Just hear her out." Oliver said. _

"_You have to figure out how to get in, I can't help you there, it would be too obvious, but I can help you when you get in. I work there now, it's the only lab left." _

"_What about Cassandra?" Chloe asked. _

"_If you can fool everyone else with a different plan, make them believe a different plan, I can make Cassandra believe that one to." Dr. Rao said. "And I can help you on the inside, help you get out, get Cassandra out. Take down Lex." _

_Chloe and Oliver looked at each other and had a private conversation without words. "The devil you know." Chloe said with a shrug. _

"_Ok." Oliver said. "How do we do this?" _

* * *

"So we worked to come up with the plan." Oliver explained. "Obviously Chloe was the one that had to go in, because she's the one who knew the whole plan." 

"Wait, hold on." Bart held up a hand. "Back up. The whole time, the plan was for Chloe to go in alone?"

"Yes." Oliver said.

"So what was all the fighting about? The huge blowout earlier today?" Victor asked.

"Oh." Oliver said. "That." They could of sworn they saw him blush. "All part of the plan, to make it believable. You guys definitely would have thought something was up if I hadn't protested."

"Well that's true." AC nodded.

Oliver turned away, smiling at the memory of their fight earlier that day.

Chloe basically threw Oliver in the room and slammed the door behind her. "Did you have to pull me so hard?" He whispered rubbing his wrist.

_Chloe glared at him and then pretended to clear her throat. "First of all, that out there, was out of line." Chloe screamed. "There is no scenario where it's ok to yell at me like that in front of them. You spout out all this bullshit about how this is a partnership and we're in this together and then you try and pull rank on me like that. It's degrading and it undermines me." _

"At this moment." Oliver yelled. "That matters very little to me."

"_Oh, thank you for that." She snapped and then walked up to him. "Did I hurt your wrist?" She whispered._

_  
"This plan is ridiculous even for us Chloe." Oliver said. "I don't like it." He shook his head. "No I'm fine." He smiled._

"_No, you don't trust me when I say I can do it." She pointed out. "I have proven myself over and over again and still you treat me like I'm this uncertain little computer geek who showed up on your doorstep ten years ago and I am getting tired of it." On a whim she picked up the bowl on the dresser and threw it against the wall. Oliver looked at her amazed and she shrugged. "It just felt right." She whispered then motioned for him to go. _

"_I trust you." Oliver said. "I know what you're capable of, and that's not how I see you at all." He told her. "I have no doubt in your ability. But I can't control the situation, I can't control the rope, I can't control the bungee cords and I can't control the fact that you falling six thousand feet onto a roof worries me more than I can even articulate." He walked closer and pulled her into a hug. "Is it wrong that this is turning me on?" He said in her ear. _

_She slapped his shoulder. "So that's what this is about?" Chloe scoffed. "Is this how it's going to be from now on? You had no problem when I did all those things I did for you before. What so now that we're together I'm going to be treated differently. We're going to the coddle Chloe plan?" He kissed her neck and she squirmed. "Stick to the plan if you want to get any later. You do want to get lucky later don't you?" _

"_Yes." Oliver screamed and Chloe giggled. He regained his composure. "Yes, that's the plan. Before I even knew I loved you, before and after you got all your fancy training, I worried, every mission you went on, every job you did, my stomach tied up in knots because I'm responsible for you, for bringing you here, for what happens to you. And now, I'm not going to apologize for wanting you to be safe, to be alive." _

"_You are not responsible for me." Chloe said. "I am responsible for me. I am responsible for what happens to me, for what I do." She looked scared for a second. "Did you get milk yesterday at the store because we'll probably be gone for a week and I don't want it to spoil in the fridge." _

"_No." Oliver told her and the guys they knew were listening outside the door. "You're not Chloe." Oliver told her. "It's like you don't even realize, you're actions effect everyone. Seven years ago Lionel Luthor walked through my door holding your dead body. I sat on the couch next to you for eighteen hours and even thought I knew you were gonna wake up it didn't change how I felt. It didn't change the feeling in the pit of my stomach when I looked at you, lying there, not breathing." _

_  
"You were laying it on a little thick there weren't you?" Chloe said rolling her eyes. _

"_I don't think so." Oliver shook his head. "I meant all that." _

"_A bit condescending don't you think?" Chloe said. Oliver looked at her and she shrugged and then she opened her mouth in surprise, it was her turn to talk, she had to wrack her brains for a come back. Oliver made a motion for her to say something and she shrugged and just blurted out the first thing that came to her mind. "I can't apologize for that, I'm sorry how it made you feel but not that I did it. I can't put my life on hold, live in a padded room without sharp edges just to keep you worry free. I can't and I won't and you're going to have to live with that." _

"_Point taken." Oliver nodded at her. _

_  
"I have work to do." She said and affixed an angry glare on her face before kissing him and leaving the room. _

* * *

"That whole thing was an act?" Bart said. "Man you guys should take the show on the road." 

"Pay attention to what you're doing." Oliver scolded him.

"How can I pay attention to what I'm doing if I don't understand what I'm doing?" Bart looked up from the radio that he was tuning

"Just go slow and listen." Oliver told him.

"What good is Chloe being in a cage exactly?" AC asked.

"All part of the plan."

"The plan you won't tell us about?" Victor asked.

"It'll all make sense in time." Batman said.

"Oh he knows the plan?" Bart asked a little annoyed.

"Listen." Oliver told him.

* * *

"So you've had Dr. Rao on your side?" Cassandra asked as Chloe pulled out the toilet from the wall. "Do you need privacy?" Cassandra asked. 

"What?" Chloe asked reaching down behind the toilet and pulling out a small bag. "No, I'm not going to the bathroom." She moved to put the toilet away and it flushed on it's own. Chloe paused. "How does it do that?"

"I know right?" Cassandra asked. "I can't find a sensor."

"Right, not the point." Chloe pulled something out of the bag and walked to the wall next to the glass door. "How far from the glass is the key pad?"

Cassandra looked confused. "Uh…six inches." Chloe gauged the distance and placed what looked like a small PDA on the stainless steel and the guessed the height on the wall. "What is that?"

"A key." Chloe said pushing a button and watching text scroll across the screen until the door slid open. She stuck the device back in the bag and then walked to Cassandra's cage. She looked at the keypad and her fingers hovered over it in confusion. "How am I supposed to open this one?"

"78459." Cassandra said and Chloe raised her eyebrows. "I know everything."

"Huh." Chloe typed in the number and the door opened.

"Let's go." Cassandra said.

"No, I mean, we will, but not now." She handed Cassandra the bag. "Wait until I'm gone and then use the radio to call out. There will be someone waiting for you."

"What?" Cassandra asked as Chloe slipped back out and closed her door. Then she got in hers and closed it, locking herself back in. "Well that seemed completely useless and unnecessary." Cassandra looked down at the bag.

"Lex is going to be here in a minute." Chloe said. "He's going to take me out of here and…question me."

"Torture you." Cassandra corrected.

"Probably." Chloe nodded. "I need him distracted with me so that the others can get in."

"And then we'll get out?" Cassandra asked so hopefully.

"I promise." Chloe smiled at her. They both turned when they heard the sound of the helicopter. "Show time."

"I hope you know what you're doing." Cassandra said hiding the bag in her own toilet.

"You and me both." Chloe said, which didn't inspire confidence.

"He'll know you." Cassandra said.

"Yeah." Chloe nodded. "That's a risk we have to take." The helicopter landed and they both waited anxiously.

* * *

"Which one is it?" Lex asked walking into the compound from the landing pad. 

"The new one, the girl."

"Watchtower." Lex said. "That's what they call her."

"Yeah well she's a little feisty." One guard said holding his jaw.

"I trust you had no trouble wrangling one measly girl?"

"No sir, no trouble." He shook his head.

"Take me to her." Lex said and the guard nodded leading him inside.

* * *

As soon as the door opened Cassandra went back to mumbling to herself and Chloe took in a shaky breath before plastering a smile on her face and staring straight a head. There was no way she was going to miss the look on his face when he saw her. His footsteps got closer and Chloe nodded encouragingly at Cassandra who was mumbling something about puppies. She saw him before he saw her and her blood boiled under her skin but she stood her ground. When he was in front of the glass door he turned to look at her and she wasn't disappointed. She'd managed to surprise Lex Luthor and that if anything was a big accomplishment. "Hey Lex." Chloe smiled. "Long time no see." 

He stared at her for a second, not believing it, not wanting to believe it and then coming to the realization that he had to believe it, the evidence was right in front of him. "Ms. Sullivan." He looked her up and down, taking in the leather and the bloody hands. "I take it you had no trouble getting to the place."

"You know me." Chloe said. "I stumble into the worst situations. I was just out taking a tour of the canyon and…here I am."

"Yes, here you are." Lex smiled. "Take her out."

The guard nodded and opened the door reaching out for Chloe. She made a motion to hit him and he flinched and scrambled for his gun. Chloe heard a gun cock and looked to the side to see Lex holding a 9mm at her head. "Don't take you're eyes off her for a second."

"You never were any fun Lex." Chloe whined as they took her away. She managed one last look at Cassandra who nodded imperceptibly as Chloe was taken away. When the door closed Cassandra opened the toilet and grabbed the bag, fumbling for the radio. She turned it on and spoke into it.

"Hello?" She asked. "Is there anyone out there?" She said. She was met with nothing but static. "Marco?" She offered.

* * *

"I'm not getting anything on this stupid…" Bart stopped as he heard a voice. 

"Hello, come in Houston, we have a problem." The voice said. "Marco."

"I'm here, we're here. Uh Polo?" Bart offered and waved Oliver over.

He grabbed the radio and spoke into it. "Green Arrow, is this Cassandra?"

"Yes." She sounded so relieved. "Watchtower told me to call you. She was taken, by Lex about five minutes ago."

"We're on our way." Oliver said putting the radio down. "Let's go."

Bart and AC were flown in by Clark while Victor and Oliver were taken by Kara. Batman and Spiderman made their own way in. They all landed on the helipad by the copter and stood looking at the compound. "I can't go through there." Victor reminded Oliver, he'd die in a second when the EMP fried his systems.

"Taken care of." Oliver smiled. They watched as the back door opened and Dr. Rao peaked out.

"We don't have much time." She motioned to them. "I've turned of the shield."

"Force Field." Bart corrected as he walked forward.

"Are we sure we can trust her?" Victor said anxiously.

Oliver held out his wrist where his watch wasand Victor saw it was still working. He took a large step forward and when he didn't drop dead he sighed in relief and walked to the door. "Where's Watchtower?" He asked Dr. Rao.

"In with Lex." Pointing down a hallway.

"What?" Bart turned in the direction that she pointed and Oliver grabbed her arm.

"She's got a different job. Leave her to it." Bart frowned but nodded. "I need you to go get Cassandra out and then both of you meet me in the lab. She'll know the way."

"Down that hall, last door." Bart nodded then sped away.

"Cyborg." Dr. Rao said. "I need you and Aqua man in the mainframe." They nodded and followed her.

"You two." Oliver said looking at Kara and Clark. "I need you to get as much of the hard copies out of here and the staff." They nodded and zoomed off in the direction of the file storage.

"Me?" Bruce asked.

"You two are on demo." Oliver said. "Everything, even the pillars."

"You got it." Bruce saluted and walked away as Peter followed.

* * *

Lex smacked Chloe again and her head snapped to the side, her lip splitting open. She was in a room with Lex and a guard. Her hands were tied behind her back as she sat in a chair. He shook her blood off of his hand and smiled. "I could do this all night." 

"I knew you were into S&M." She glared at him licking the blood from her lips and then spitting.

"Who are your friends?" He asked. "Where are your friends?"

"Which ones?" Chloe asked. "I have quite a few. Abby I suppose is back in London, helping Rose with the wedding."

Lex pulled his hand back and Chloe closed her eyes taking a deep breath and bracing herself.

"_Holy mother of God." Chloe screamed as Bruce smacked the pole into her stomach. She was hanging upside down in the cave and Bruce was beating the shit out of her. He called it training but Chloe was sure he was having a little too much fun._

"_You aren't relaxed." He sighed. "Mindful breath." _

"_Don't mindful breath me." She choked out. "What good is meditation when I know you're going to hit me with that bloody pole?" _

"_All the good in the world." Bruce said. "Up." Chloe pulled herself up and allowed the blood to return to her head. "You worry about the things you shouldn't worry about?" _

"_I shouldn't worry about the fact that you're going to hit me?" Chloe asked. _

"_No." Bruce said. "Because you know for certain I am going to hit you. It's going to happen no matter what you do. How you take it is what matters." Chloe rolled her eyes. "Again." He said and she lowered herself so she was hanging upside. He pulled back the pole and swung it again. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. _

Lex was wiping his hand on a rag now, it was covered in red. "Chloe I don't want to do this." He said to her. "We were friends once."

"Oh yeah." Chloe smiled, her head was killing her and her lip was swelling badly. "Remember…remember that time when you kidnapped me and ran tests on me? Or what about that time that you took my mom to get to me." She laughed. "I almost shot you. Good times."

"We could be friends again." Lex offered.

"I've got enough friends." Chloe told him. "But thanks for the offer."

"Go get the tools." Lex said to the guard who nodded and left the room.

"Tools?" Chloe smiled. "I didn't realize you were so handy."

"Where are your friends?" He asked again and Chloe just shook her head.

* * *

Clark saw Spiderman hanging by a web from the foundation of the building setting the explosives on the pillars. Spiderman saluted as he flew to the side of the canyon carrying an arm full of file boxes. He set them down next to the tied up guards and then flew back to the building. He wanted to scan for Chloe but Oliver had asked him not to. Clark was guessing it was because whatever he saw would no doubt make him rush in and rescue her and she had her job to do. He passed Kara carrying another guard out. He had to trust that Oliver and Chloe knew what they were doing.

* * *

Bart slipped into the room and heard someone mumbling. He walked down the hall and stopped at a glass door where a woman was sitting there rocking back and forth. "Cassandra?" Bart asked. 

"The puppies were bad, earthquake in Indonesia." She mumbled.

"Cassandra, I'm here to get you out of here." He said. Her head snapped up and she smiled. "It's about damn time." She jumped to her feet and gave him the code. "Come on." She said impatiently.

"What?" Bart smiled. "You're in a rush to get out of here?"

"We all should be." She wasn't smiling now. "This whole plan is about to go to shit." She grabbed his arm and pulled him behind her.

"That's never good." Bart sighed.

* * *

Oliver had to trust that everyone was doing what they needed to be doing. Victor and AC should have gotten into the mainframe by now and he trusted that Clark and Kara were fine. Bart should have gotten Cassandra by now and everything was on schedule. Chloe…he couldn't think about Chloe or he wouldn't get his job done. Bart stormed through the doors, pushed in by a woman who was smiling and panting. "Haven't run like that in ages." She bent over and tried to catch her breath. 

"What's up?" Oliver asked.

"We've got a problem." Bart spit out.

Oh how Oliver hated those four words.

* * *

Lex paced back and forth in the room and glanced at the door again. "Do you need a bathroom break?" Chloe asked. "Cause I can wait." She was more nervous than she let on. If the guard wasn't back yet, it could be because something was wrong. 

"What I need is for you to start cooperating." Lex snapped at her. "Do you have any idea of what you've cost me?"

"Put it on my tab." Chloe smiled.

He ran forward and shoved her chest so hard that she and the chair fell backwards and her head slammed on the floor hard. She didn't see that coming. "Ouch." She sighed. She was heaved back upright quickly and she blinked rapidly.

"Where are you're friends?" He hit her. Before she could answer he hit her again. "Where are they?" He hit her again.

"Ok." Chloe choked out. "Ok." She panted and caught her breath, her lip trembling, tears unshed, threatening to fall from her eyes. Lex leaned on the table and caught his breath. "They've gone…"

"Where?" Lex asked.

Chloe took a shaky breath and let out a sob. "They've gone to see…to see…"

"Gone to see who?" Lex screamed.

Chloe turned her head to him and smiled, the tremble in her lips gone, the tears a faint memory. "They've gone to see the Wizard." She smirked. "The wonderful Wizard of Oz." She laughed.

Lex growled and hit her again. Her laughter died when his hand made contact with her chin but her gaze never wavered. "You should check the yellow brick road." Chloe said.

Lex looked at the door again and then walked over to it. "I'll get the tools myself."

"Wait, leaving so soon." Chloe said stopping him in his tracks. "We were just starting to have fun."

He turned to her, his hand on the door knob. "The Chloe that I know isn't usually so anxious for pain." Lex said.

"What can I say." Chloe shrugged. "You just bring it out in me." She smiled. "But don't forget the safe word this time."

"Are you…" He looked at the door and then at Chloe. "You guys never do anything alone. I've studied you long enough to know that."

"Really?" Chloe asked. "Are you a fan? Untie me and I'll give you an autograph."

"Are you trying to keep me in this room?"

"Yes." Chloe said. "All to myself. Couldn't bear to share you."

Lex just smiled and opened the door. "I'll be back."

She opened her mouth to stop him but it was too late. She stood up and flexed her arms to get the chair off of her. She sat on the ground and pulled her arms under her butt and put her legs through so her hands were in front of her but still tied together. She opened the door, looked both ways and then took off running. She rounded the corner and slammed straight into Oliver who was running toward her. They both fell to the floor and Cassandra pulled her up as Bart helped Oliver. They regained their footing and said at the same time. "We've got a problem."

Oliver froze. "What happened to your face?" He touched the side of her cheek and she winced as he traced a bruise that was starting to turn purple from her temple to her chin.

"You know how Lex and I are when you get us together." Chloe shrugged away from him. "I insult him, he ties me to a chair and beats the crap out of me. Such fun we have together."

"Does he at least look this bad?" Oliver fumed silently pulling an arrow out and using it to cut her wrists free.

"I wish." Chloe said. "We hadn't gotten to that part yet. He's not in the room, he left, he suspected something wasn't right."

"Something isn't right." Cassandra said. "We've got to get everyone and get out of here."

"But we aren't finished." Chloe said.

"We're gonna have to be." Cassandra said. "Trust me. I know…"

"Everything." Chloe said. "Yeah, yeah." She sighed. "You know you're starting to remind me of someone."

"What's going to happen?" Oliver asked.

"Lex had his own emergency plan in place." Cassandra said. "And it's set to blow in about five minutes."

"Man." Bart groaned. "_We_ were gonna blow this place up."

"Well we're gonna get blown up if we don't hurry." Cassandra said.

"All right, let's move out, Impulse you round everyone up." Oliver said.

"Wait." Cassandra said. "We've got to get the others."

They all froze. "What others?"

"The ones on the other side of the compound." Cassandra looked between Oliver and Chloe.

"Dr. Rao didn't tell us about any others."

"She doesn't know." Cassandra said. "Lex didn't trust her as much as she thinks he did."

"Let's go." Chloe said grabbing her hands. "Show me." Cassandra nodded and pulled Chloe down the hall.

"Chloe!" Oliver screamed.

"You need to get to the safe." Cassandra said. "That's where Lex is going. He's got a back up of the back up of the formula in there." She told him how to get there.

Oliver debated, Chloe and Cassandra were running down one hall and Bart was waiting for him in the other. "Let's go." He said.

Oliver nodded and followed Bart, the place was huge and they had seven people to find in five minutes, and they had to stop Lex from getting away with the formula.

* * *

"It was a good plan." Cassandra said. 

"What went wrong?" Chloe asked as they jogged.

"The guard." Cassandra explained. "When he left the room to get the tools, Kara found him and took him out of here."

"And when he didn't get back Lex got suspicious." Chloe cursed.

"But all in all, it was a good plan." Cassandra pointed to a corner and Chloe nodded taking it.

"Yeah?" Chloe said. "Say that again if we don't blow up."

Cassandra didn't respond and Chloe found that very unsettling. They got to the end of a hall and Cassandra pointed to a door. Chloe went in and froze in her tracks. Standing in their very own glass cells, completely furnished with beds and dressers and toy chests were five children. Ranging in age from four to ten. "I'm so killing him." Chloe said walking up to the first cell. "Code." She called to Cassandra.

"98723." Cassandra said. Chloe punched it in and the door opened. "Go get the rest." Chloe said as she coaxed the girl out of the cell to stand by her.

"Clark." Chloe called knowing that he would hear her. "Clark." She screamed again as Cassandra moved to the next cell. There was a red blur and Clark was standing there.

"It's Superman." One boy said excitedly.

Clark stood frozen. "We need to get them out of here." Chloe said herding the kids in Clark's direction. Clark nodded and picked two of the kids up and zooming out. He was back in a second for two more as Cassandra got the fifth out. He came back for the last one but she didn't want to go.

"You have to sweetie." Chloe pleaded with her.

"I can't leave without Wookie, I need Wookie."

"Who's Wookie?" Chloe asked, figuring they'd wasted three minutes.

"My teddy bear." The girl said.

"I'll get him, I promise but please go with Superman." Chloe told her.

The little girl nodded and Clark picked her up and zoomed out. "Come on." Cassandra said.

Chloe ran into the cell and searched for the teddy bear. She threw everything out of the toy chest and then tossed all sheets on the bed. "Where the hell is Wookie?"

"Who cares, we've only got a minute." Cassandra screamed.

Chloe dropped to the ground and smiled. Wookie was under the bed. She grabbed for him and pulled him out tossing the bear to Cassandra. "Hold on to that."

Cassandra stuffed the bear in her back pocket and she and Chloe ran out heading for the helicopter pad.

* * *

Oliver got to the safe but it was open and empty. He cursed and then he heard the helicopter start up. He shook his head and changed direction, heading for the helicopter pad. He made it out there just as Lex was climbing in. He strung and let loose an arrow in record speed, slicing Lex's cheek and halting his progress. "Not so fast." He said in his Green Arrow voice. 

"Well." Lex said turning around and pulling his gun out. "If it isn't the Green Arrow."

"In the flesh." Oliver said.

He heard a noise behind him but didn't move. "Stay behind me." Chloe said and pushed Cassandra back.

"Where's the rest of the team?" Lex asked.

"Do you really expect me to answer that?" Chloe scoffed.

"No." Lex shrugged. "Not today anyway."

"Not ever." Chloe said. "It's over Lex." She was mentally counting in her head and they didn't have much time.

"I've still got the formula." He said holding up a flash drive. "I can start over."

A red blur sped past and when it came to a stop next to Chloe Bart smirked and Lex was standing there with no gun and no flash drive. "You were saying?" He smiled.

Lex opened his mouth, but he didn't get anything out because the first explosion rocked the compound. The foundation shook and Oliver and Chloe looked at each other in horror. Lex turned to the helicopter but it had taken off. "Guess you're stuck here with us."

"We're all gonna die." He screamed.

"At least we'll take you with us." Chloe said and she scooted over and grabbed Oliver's hand as the foundation shook with another explosion. They lost their footing and before they could stand up again the third blast hit and all they saw was darkness.

* * *

Chloe opened her eyes and tried to stand up. She couldn't move her right arm so she looked over and saw a huge gash in her shoulder. Lex hadn't been as thorough setting up his explosives so the whole building didn't blow, it just sort of collapsed. She pulled herself up and felt the whole thing shift under her. They survived the explosion but they were screwed if they got stuck on here when it decided to fall. "Chloe!" Clarks panicked voice called out. 

"Here." Chloe coughed and she felt a gust of wind and then Clark was standing there.

"Thank God you're ok." He sighed.

"You were worried?" Chloe let him pull her to her feet.

"About what Lois would do to me if you died." He joked.

"I'd be worried about that too." She said. "Oliver?" She looked around.

"Kara's got him." Clark looked over his shoulder.

"You need to sit still." Kara said shoving him down.

"I need to find Chloe." Oliver said.

"I'm fine." She walked toward them. "Bart? Cassandra?"

"He grabbed her and outran the blast." Oliver smiled when Chloe got over to him. "Not a scratch on them." He stood up and pulled her into a hug, holding on tighter than he ever had before.

"Everyone else?"

"Fine." Oliver said. "They all got off fine."

"Thank God." Chloe said relaxing into his embrace.

"Hey." Clark called and they both turned to him. "I think he's still alive." He pointed to an area of rubble. Lex was lying there underneath a large piece of concrete. Trapped. "You want me to get him out?"

"No." Chloe said pulling away from Oliver. "Not yet." She took a deep breath and walked toward him.

* * *

When Lex opened his eyes he was struck first by the quiet. Compared the noise and destruction, the literal hell on earth from a few minutes ago the quiet was strange. Was he dead? He sucked in a breath and it felt like a hot knife slice down his side, he wasn't dead. He tried to take stock of his injuries, figure a way out of this and then he heard it. A strange sound, a rhythmic clicking coming closer and closer, shoes, boots probably walking steadily to him. They stopped, next to his right shoulder and suddenly his senses kicked back into gear and he was bombarded with other sounds, overwhelmingly loud compared to the silence he'd just experienced. He could hear the electric wires snapping and popping where they broke. Alarms were going off, and pipes were bursting steam over head. 

A shadow passed over his face and he managed to move his eyes to see her. The one they'd called Watchtower, Chloe Sullivan. She was crouched down next to him, her eyes intently boring a hole into his. He tried to cry out, for help, for death, he didn't know what. "Don't talk." She said. Her eyes cut to his throat and a small smile appeared on her face. "You're larynx is crushed." He gurgled something and coughed.

"You have about two minutes to live Lex. You'll probably choke on your own blood, unless the internal bleeding is worse than I think or one of those broken ribs punctured a lung." She shrugged. "And you know what I'm perfectly ok with that." She seemed to lean back a bit and survey him. "I've been waiting for this for…" She thought a minute. "Over ten years now, gosh, has it been that long?"

He tried to gurgle again and she smiled grabbing his wrist and looking at her watch. "Pulse is slowing, about a minute and half now." She smiled at him. "Normally this would be a morally grey area for me. Would letting you die be just as bad as killing you myself, and I am one of the good guys. But after what you did to me today?" Lex closed his eyes for a second and then looked at her again, there were scrapes all over her face, her jacket was torn on her right shoulder and the skin underneath was gashed and bleeding. "What you did to my friends and to all those people." She turned her head and looked behind her.

"After all this, it seems pretty black and white to me." She sighed and dropped his hand. "The problem with that is, does that make me any better than you?" She pretended to think. "I'm going to let you die Lex, here on this dirty floor, bleeding, broken, and in so much pain you'll probably welcome it, and I'm going to be ok with that." She watched as his eyes betrayed the desperation that he was feeling as his breath became more rapid and then nothing. His breathing stopped, his head fell to the side and his eyes stared up at her lifeless and cold. Lex Luther was dead, and something that she didn't want acknowledge, some part of her, was happy.

"Chloe." Oliver's voice called to her and she nodded. She put her hand to Lex's chest and the team stood behind her and watched the light course from her hand and through Lex's body. After a minute she fell back on the ground lifeless as Lex's eyes shot open.

"What..." His head darted around. He saw the Green Arrow and his team, standing stoically in the background, and he saw her, the Watchtower lying on the ground next to him, dead. "What happened?" He could speak now, and breath, it didn't hurt anymore, he seemed fine if you didn't take into account the pile of rubble lying on top of him, pinning him to the ground.

"She let you die Lex." Oliver said and walking forward. "But only because she knew she could bring you back. Because she's not like you, you're a monster and I have no doubt that the world would be a better place without you in it. But she's not like you. I want you to remember this moment, remember what she just did for you, that after everything you did to her, she died to save you. Because if you're half as smart as the world thinks you are, you'll do something with this second chance."

He bent down and picked up Chloe and then stood up and glanced at him one last time before turning around. "Go get her." He said to Clark who nodded and flew away. A few minutes later he landed back on the rubble carrying a very familiar face.

"What's the crazy girl doing here?" Bart asked.

"I'm not crazy." Rebecca said. "Not anymore." She assured him. Rebecca turned her attention to Oliver and saw Chloe's body in his arms. He ignored the surprise on her face and nodded to Lex. She walked over to him and crouched down. "You want him to forget the whole thing?" She asked.

"Let him remember what he did to her, and what she did for him. Just don't let him remember who she is." Oliver said coldly. Rebecca nodded and placed her hands on either side of Lex's face and closed her eyes. "Oh and screw around with any memory of the cure in his head."

"It's done." Rebecca said a minute later and stood up.

"Thank you." Oliver told her.

"I owed you this." She smiled.

Oliver just nodded as the foundation creaked and shifted again. "We've got to get you off of here." Clark said. "What do you want me to do with him?"

"Drop him off in the middle of nowhere." Oliver said and then turned around. Clark grabbed Lex and flew off as Kara walked up to Oliver and held out her hands.

"Let me take her." She said. Oliver hesitated for a second but when the foundation shifted again he nodded.

"Bring her back to her apartment." He passed her body over to Kara and she smiled and nodded before taking off.


	20. Chapter 20

The first day Chloe was dead everyone seemed to take it in stride, outwardly at least. They didn't pay much attention to it, no one talked about the fact that the dead body of their best friend was in the other room. The second day Lois showed up howling mad and spent twenty minutes in Chloe's room screaming at the top of her lungs before coming back to the main room and offering to buy everyone diner. They all went along with her, if only to make sure she didn't bite the head off an unsuspecting bus boy.

* * *

On day three Peter and Bruce had to get home. Oliver understood, as worried as they were about Chloe, they had lives to get to, responsibilities in their own towns. "Call me when she wakes up." Bruce said. Oliver just nodded.

"Ditto." Peter said. "Give that to her for me." He handed Oliver a thick white envelope, a wedding invitation he guessed.

"You bet." Oliver smiled at them. "Thanks for the help."

"We all owe Chloe for something." Peter said. "That's just the kind of girl she was." Bruce elbowed Peter in the ribs. "Is."

"Yeah." Oliver coughed. "Have a good flight you guys."

* * *

Day four things were getting tense. Oliver was snapping at people left and right, the guys were starting to worry and Oliver wasn't helping them. "Damn it Bart." Oliver slammed a cabinet shut. "Stop leaving the orange juice out. I hate warm orange juice." He threw the carton in the sink and it exploded all over the cabinets. Everyone froze and Oliver stormed out.

"I got it." Victor said walking to the kitchen and started cleaning up the mess.

"I got him." Lois stood up and walked to the balcony. She closed the door behind her and took a deep breath. "You need to snap the hell out of this."

"Do I?" Oliver asked.

"Yes." Lois said walking up to stand beside him and leaned on the railing. "She's coming back, you know she is, she has to or I'll kill her." Oliver snorted. "But they don't know that." Lois pointed inside. "They don't have that certainty. They are scared and they are worried and you're their leader. They look to you for guidance, to see what's going on, what they should be feeling."

"I told them she'd be fine." Oliver said.

"Yeah you told them that. But they look at you and all they see is that you're worried she won't be fine and so they worry." Lois said. "They need you right now."

"Yeah?" Oliver said. "Well I need Chloe." He turned away from her and walked back in the apartment.

* * *

On day five Lois was ashamed to admit that she'd lost all the confidence she'd told Oliver to have the day before, she caught herself at breakfast thinking about the things she would need to do for Chloe's funeral and had to stop herself before she started crying into her cereal. "You ok?" Clark asked. She was unsuccessful and the tears were falling now.

"I hate rice crispies." Lois said. Clark grabbed her and pulled her into a hug. "Chloe has to wake up." Lois said into his chest. "Because if I have to eat another bowl of cereal I'm going to die." She chuckled and Clark smiled rubbing circles on her back.

* * *

Day six Oliver spent twelve hours sitting at Chloe's bedside, alternating between sleeping, talking, and just staring at her. "So Peter and Mary Jane are getting married." Oliver smiled. "That should be a fun wedding." He grasped for anything to say.

"I can't loose you Chloe." Oliver said. "Not now, not like this." He rubbed her hand. He ignored the fact that it was clammy and cold, wrapped in bandages for the cuts she got on the rope, he just needed to feel her. "Not because of Lex Luther." Oliver said. "I'd hunt him down myself and kill him but that would hardly be productive after you gave your life to save his. God you can be so stupid sometimes." He laughed and took a deep breath. "I can't do this without you. I had to pretend to be strong for three years the last time you were gone and I can't do that again. You filed something inside of me that I didn't know needed to be filled and now it's like it's gone and I don't work without you." He leaned down, putting his forehead on the bed and taking deep breaths so he didn't start to cry.

He felt a hand in his hair and he shot up see Chloe smiling at him. "Chloe…" He whispered.

"You're such a girl did you know that?" She smiled. "Did you even hear yourself just then?"

Oliver laughed and leaned down to hug her tight. "Oh God, I thought this time…"

"I'm fine." She rubbed his back slowly. "I'm here." He still wouldn't let go. "How long…"

"Six days." Oliver whispered in her ear.

"God, no wonder I'm starving." She joked and Oliver laughed again.

"I'll send Bart out for food." He stood up and walked to the door, grabbing her hand and holding on until he just couldn't reach anymore. He let her fingers drop one at a time and smiled, stopping at the door.

"I'll be here when you get back." Chloe promised.

Ten minutes later Lois knocked on the door and walked in. "The guys are getting restless out there but we didn't want to overwhelm you."

"I appreciate that." Chloe said sitting up straighter.

"Oliver didn't trust Bart to get the food so he went himself but he sent me in here with this." She pulled a piece of chocolate cake out from behind her back and Chloe's face lit up.

"Gimmie." She held out her hands and Lois laughed.

"You scared us." Lois said. "You scared me."

"Wow." Chloe swallowed her cake. "That's not easy to do."

"No it's not." Lois said.

"So am I in trouble then?" Chloe asked.

"Yes." Lois said. She looked at Chloe and then socked her in the arm.

"Ow." Chloe laughed.

"We're cool now." Lois smiled. "Give me a bite."

"No." Chloe pulled the plate away.

"Just one bite."

"No this is my cake." Chloe cried. "Go get your own."

There was a knock at the door and it opened up a sliver. "If we promise not to jump on you or talk too loudly or touch anything can we come in?"

"Of course." Chloe said. She slapped Lois as her hand reached for the plate with the cake. "I will kill you." Chloe warned her.

They very carefully gathered around her bed and she smiled. "Please don't tell me you've all been cooped up in this apartment for six days waiting for me to wake up?"

"Fine, we won't tell you." Victor said.

"You guys need to get a life." Chloe joked.

"You might wanna see this." Bart said turning on her television. They all looked at the screen, a newscast was on.

"The search for missing billionaire mogul Lex Luther finally ended this morning. He was found wandering around the Mojave Desert with no memory of how he got there. He was reported missing six days ago by his father Lionel Luther and search parties were organized all over the world." Bart turned the television off and Chloe smiled.

"I guess Rebecca worked her magic pretty good." Chloe said.

"How did you know you could trust her?" AC asked.

"I didn't." Chloe shrugged. "I just had to have faith."

"A lot of this plan was built on that wasn't it?" Clark asked and Chloe nodded.

"I've got diner." Oliver said in the doorway. "I'll fix you your first plate." He walked back in the kitchen and with one look at the plate Oliver brought her she passed the cake over to Lois quickly. After her second plate of food she was still hungry but she wasn't shoveling it in anymore.

"How are you feeling?" Clark asked. "Really?"

"Good, not great." Chloe said. "It's not a sudden thing, like the other times, where I woke up and was fine. It's kind of slow going. My legs don't really…work right now."

"What?" Oliver asked.

"Well Lex had a lot of injuries." Chloe explained. "Before when I did this there was generally one wound I had to heal, but he had a punctured lung, internal bleeding, broken ribs, and his spine."

"So you're paralyzed?" Bart asked.

"It'll heal." Chloe assured them.

"And if it doesn't?" Bart asked.

"Well." She sighed. "You still got that sweet wheelchair from when you broke your leg huh?" Bart laughed. "I'll be fine, trust me."

"So are we going to talk about the way you two played us?" Victor asked. "For a month?"

"Hey." Chloe pointed at him. "You didn't think I could be sneaky."

"I was proven more than wrong." Victor admitted.

"It worked didn't it?" Chloe asked.

"Except the part where the whole place blew up before we finished." AC pointed out.

"Well if you wanna be technical." Chloe rolled her eyes. "But everyone's ok?"

"Everyone's fine." Clark told her.

* * *

They talked for a little while longer and then Oliver shooed everyone out of the room, sent the guys home and Lois and Clark to his apartment. He climbed in the bed next to Chloe and she made a face. "Is this not ok?" He asked worried.

"No." She shook her head and he got up slowly, confused. "I just mean, I've been dead for six days, I'd really like a bath."

"That I can do." Oliver smiled and picked her up. He carried her to the bathroom and sat her on the tub while he ran a bath for her then helped her get undressed and sat her in it. She sighed with pleasure as he sponged water onto her back.

"That thing you said." Oliver said. "Before you got on the rope." …

"Oh." Chloe smiled. "Yeah, about that." Chloe frowned. "I lied." Oliver looked over at her. "I don't find your cheesy lines charming, I just find them cheesy." Oliver glared at her and she smiled. "Oh you mean the other thing."

"The other thing." Oliver nodded.

She laughed a little and looked at his face. "You want me to say it again huh?" He smiled and turned his head a little. "You do." She said her voice going up a notch. "You are just dying to hear it." She grabbed his hand and took the sponge from him.

"I won't put out until I hear it again." He crossed his arms over his chest.

"You are such a girl." Chloe smiled.

"A girl?" Oliver reached his hand in the water and tickled her side. She laughed and protested. He tickled her so hard she slid down in the tub.

"Ok, I give up." She laughed. "You win." Oliver stopped tickling her and looked at her. "I love you." She said smiling at him. He leaned down and kissed her softly, then harder until they both had to pull away for air. "That totally turned you on didn't it?" She smiled at him. "You are such a girl." She laughed and Oliver just stared at her.

Her hair was a curling a bit from the water and her cheeks were red from the steam coming off the bath water. She resumed the sponging that he'd started and he sat back and just smiled at her. "What?" She asked dropping the sponge in the water.

"Marry me." He said. Chloe opened her mouth and then closed it. She tilted her head and looked at him as if the different angle would help her confusion somehow. "Chloe?"

"What?" She shook her head. "I'm sorry what was the question?"

"Marry me." He said again.

"Did you hit your head?" Chloe asked.

"No, well yes but that's not what this is about." Oliver shook his head.

"Really? Did you get your head checked out? Are you sure you're ok?" Chloe reached for his head to feel for a bump.

"I'm fine Chloe."

"You're obviously not fine." Chloe protested. "We've been dating for six months that's crazy."

"Come on Chloe." He put soap on the sponge and washed her off. "We've been dating for ten years. So what do you say?"

"Oliver…" She smiled. "No. This is too soon."

"It's not." Oliver said. "It's not for me."

"It is for me." She sighed. "I love you, I really do but I just woke up from being dead, we finally took down Lex Luther, and I just can't do that right now." He looked at her for a second and then nodded.

"I won't stop asking." Oliver said. "I can be very persuasive."

"You mean you can be very annoying." Chloe pointed out.

"Whatever gets you to say yes." He smiled.

* * *

The next day Oliver brought Chloe out to the living room, she was tired of the bed. She had a little more feeling in her legs but she still couldn't walk around. "Pass me the International section." She asked Oliver.

"Marry me." He said.

Lois dropped her fork and looked between the two of them. "What?"

"No." Chloe said. "Pass me the paper."

"Fine." Oliver handed her the International section and went back to his paper.

"What was that?" Lois asked. "He just proposed to you."

"He's been doing it all morning." Chloe shrugged. "It's not big deal."

"No big deal?" Lois asked.

"He'll ask again." Chloe brushed it off.

Sure enough she noticed the rest of the week almost every interaction between Chloe and Oliver had a proposal somewhere in it. If Chloe said, "Will you hand me my phone?" Oliver responded with, "Will you marry me". If she asked him to pass the salt he asked her to marry him. If she asked him to stop asking her to marry him, he asked her to marry him.

"Someone's buzzing." Chloe said. "Answer it please." She screamed through the room.

"Marry me please." Oliver said on his way to the intercom. Chloe was able to walk now but not very well and not without holding onto something.

"Hey, it's Janet…or Cassandra, can I come up?"

"Sure." Oliver buzzed her up.

Chloe smiled and made her way over to the kitchen table. "Hey." She said when the doors opened.

"Hey." Janet stepped out cautiously.

"Come in." Chloe waved at her. "Please."

She walked in the house and sat down at the kitchen table. "I just wanted to come see how you were doing."

"Fine." Chloe assured her. "How are you?"

"Better, now that I'm out of there and I know Lex won't be hurting anyone else for a while." She smiled.

"We got rid of all the stuff in the lab and all the data. He'd have to start again from scratch and he doesn't even have any memory of it." Oliver assured her.

"That's actually another reason why I came here." Janet said nervously. "I was hoping you hadn't destroyed the formula."

"No." Oliver said. "Not yet."

"Good." Janet smiled. "I need to ask you for a favor."

"Sure." Chloe said.

"Could you make some?" She asked pleadingly.

Chloe and Oliver were taken back for a second. "Why?"

"For me." Janet said. "Well not just for me but mainly for me."

"I don't understand." Chloe said. "Half of the missions you sent us on were to destroy the cure. To stop Lex from making it."

"As a weapon." Janet said. "But not completely." She sighed. "I'm better now that I'm out of there, but I'm still not great. That stuff they gave me, to boost my powers. They're too strong now. I see too much, I can't control it and I'm just so tired of seeing everything."

Chloe nodded. "I understand why you would want it but other people…" Chloe said.

"The things I've seen Chloe…not everyone's powers are as useful as yours, or as harmless. Some of them are detrimental to the person, keep them from leading normal lives. Some cause deformities, some are just painful. I just think that there should be an option out there, for whoever wants it."

Chloe and Oliver looked at each other and had another silent conversation. "Sure, we'll start on it right away." Oliver told her.

"Thank you."

"Hey we owe you." Chloe reminded her.

"You really do." Janet smiled.

"Do you know what you're going to do now?" Oliver asked her.

"I'm not sure." Janet said. "I haven't given it much thought. I could go live with my sister but…I don't really think that's the life for me."

"How about Chicago?" Chloe asked suddenly.

"Chicago?" Janet asked.

"Big city, lots of opportunities." Chloe said. "Plus there's someone in Chicago I think you should meet."

Janet looked like she was thinking about it for a second. "Chicago…I think I might like it there."

They chatted for a little while before Janet had to leave. She had a flight to go see her sister in an hour. "Thanks again." She told Oliver as she waited for the elevator.

"I'll be in touch when it's ready." He told her.

Janet smiled at him then looked over his shoulder at Chloe. "Keep asking." She said. "She'll say yes."

Chloe's head popped up. "She will?" Oliver smiled.

"I will?" Chloe asked.

"She will." Janet said stepping into the elevator.

"Can you give me a time frame?" Oliver asked.

"Just keep asking." She smiled as the doors closed and Oliver turned to smirk at Chloe.

"Marry me." Oliver said.

"Damn psychics." Chloe mumbled and he laughed.

"Is that a yes?" Oliver asked.

"No." Chloe said trying to storm away but it didn't work so well when she shuffled along slower than a snail.

* * *

Janet's declaration just fueled Oliver on even more. He was starting to enlist other people to do his dirty work. When Chloe finally went back to work she was happy to be out of the house and away from the constant proposals. "Bradley wants to know when he can get approval on his design. Sarah wants to move the meeting from two to three, Oliver would like for you to marry him, and Jonathan wants to change the font of the newsletter." Elizabeth looked up from her pad and smiled waiting for an answer.

"Bradley will have an answer by Wednesday, Tell Sarah three is fine, No, and tell Jonathan he can change it all he wants but make sure he sends it to me for final approval." Elizabeth just stood there staring at Chloe. "Is there something else?"

"It's just, could I ask why?" Elizabeth said.

As close as Elizabeth and Chloe were, far beyond just assistant and boss, they weren't that close. "No." Chloe said going back to her work. Elizabeth walked back into her office as Tara was standing there anxiously.

"What did she say?" Tara smiled.

"No." Elizabeth said.

"What?" Tara flopped down on the couch. "How could anyone turn down Oliver Queen? It's Oliver Queen." Tara pointed out.

"Miss Sullivan has her reasons." Elizabeth said. "Bring this down to Publishing."

Tara got up and grabbed the folder. "What possible reasons could anyone have for turning down a marriage proposal to Oliver Queen? Tara mumbled to herself as she left the office.

"I ask myself that same question daily." A voice said from behind her and she jumped a little before turning around.

"Mr. Queen." Tara said astonished.

"You're Tara right?" Oliver asked.

"You know who I am?" Tara stuttered.

"Chloe talks about you all the time." Oliver said slinging an arm over her shoulder. "When do you take lunch?"

"At twelve thirty." Tara said. "Why?"

"Because I have a very big favor to ask you and I thought I'd soften it with lunch." Oliver said.

"Sure, of course, anything." Tara said. "You don't have to take me out to lunch."

"You're here on an internship right. Business school? Harvard?" Tara nodded. "Want some free advice?" She nodded again. "First rule of business." Oliver told her punching the elevator button. "Never agree to anything until you've heard all the terms." They got in and Tara pushed the button for her floor. "Second rule of business, always take the free lunch." The elevator stopped and Tara smiled and got out. "Twelve thirty, Café Gray."

"Yes sir." Tara smiled.

"And stop calling me sir." He told her as the doors closed.

* * *

Tara checked her watch and rearranged the silverware again. She couldn't figure out what Oliver Queen wanted with her. He said a favor, what could she do for him. He could get anything he wanted at any time. She saw him walk toward their table on his cell phone. "No, I had other lunch plans too. Ok, I'll see you later." Oliver hung up the phone and smiled at Tara. "Thanks for coming."

"Of course." She said anxiously.

"Did you order?" He picked up the menu.

"No, I was waiting to see if you…." She trailed of embarrassed.

"To see if I would show up?" He smiled and she blushed her answer. He went to take a sip of his water and knocked the glass over, spilling half of it on his pants. Tara gasped and Oliver chuckled as he wiped it up. The waitress came by and took their orders and Oliver leaned back in his seat. "So I'm sure you're wondering why I asked you to lunch?"

"What?" Tara asked. "You do think I get asked out by billionaires all the time?"

Oliver smiled at her surprised. "I know now why Chloe took an interest in you."

Tara just smiled, somehow, watching him spill water on himself like a twelve year old made him a little more human and made Tara a lot less nervous. "Yeah well it wasn't because I type two hundred words a minute." She said.

"Right, straight to business." Oliver said. "I want your help in getting Chloe to marry me."

This she had not expected. "Excuse me?"

"Well you said it yourself. Why would anyone turn down my proposal? And yet she has. Twenty three times so far."

"Twenty three…" Tara laughed. "Well there's one of your problems right there."

"What's that?" Oliver asked confused.

"You've asked her twenty three times?" Tara said.

"Thirty." Oliver said. "There was one day I just repeated it eight times, but she only declined once."

"Right." Tara said. "Thirty proposals makes it seem arbitrary." Oliver raised his eyebrows. "I mean it seams as if you don't really care, that it's not a big deal."

"Of course I care." Oliver said.

"Ok, then you have to ask her like the answers important, like the rest of your life depends on the yes or no coming out of her mouth. Not like you're asking for the salt."

"That makes sense." Oliver nodded. "How do I do that?"

"First off, you have to stop asking her all the time." Tara said.

"Really?" Oliver said. "Because it's kind of fun." Tara glared at him. "Fine, I'll stop asking." Oliver looked sheepishly. "After today."

"What?" Tara said. "What does that mean?"

"It means that I have something set up and it's too late to stop it so after today, no more." Oliver said. "Then what?"

"Then you have to make the perfect moment." Tara said. "The perfect romantic moment to pop the question."

"Oh that sounds good, I like that." Oliver said. "Tell me more about this."

"Ok, well first things first we have to figure out how you want to give her the ring." Tara said. "Do you just want to show it to her, or hide it in something and let her find it or…"

"Ring?" Oliver asked.

"You don't have a ring?" Tara said.

"No. Should I?" Oliver blushed.

"Ok, actual first thing you have to do is get a ring." Tara told him.

"Right, I'll get right on that." Oliver said. "This is good stuff. Keep going."

"Well there's always the romantic diner, you can have the chef bake the ring into something."

"Chocolate cake."

"That could work." Tara smiled. "You're getting the hang of this."

Oliver got home from work and Chloe was in the kitchen. "What's for diner?"

"You get to eat this." Chloe said slapping a plate in front of him. He looked down and realized this was the end result of the plan he'd had set for today. He'd had a cake delivered to her office, chocolate of course, with Marry Me written in icing. Chloe had cut the piece with the Ma off and turned the M into a N and the a into an o so the cake read No.

Chloe looked at him with raised eyebrows and he smiled before picking up the fork and taking a large bite. She rolled her eyes and went back to cooking.

* * *

A few weeks later Oliver showed up at the office after work with a bouquet of flowers. Tara ran out of Elizabeth's office and grabbed him before Chloe could see. "So tonight's the night." Tara smiled. "Did you get the ring?" Oliver handed Tara the flowers and fumbled around in his pocket for the ring. He took out a black box and opened it. Tara smiled, then frowned.

"What?" Oliver asked confused looking down at the ring. "What's wrong?"

"It's blue." Tara looked up at him. "And green." Oliver looked down at the ring. There was a square cut blue diamond in the middle with two green diamonds on either side of it. He'd had it special made for her, blue for her JLA uniform and Green, obviously for his.

"She likes blue." Oliver said confused. "And green."

"Oh, well you know her better than I do." Tara put the smile back on her face. "So you're taking her to her favorite restaurant?" He nodded. "And you've talked to the chef already?"

"Called ahead." Oliver said. "I'll give the ring to him when I get there."

"Good." Tara handed him the flowers again and straightened her tie. "Go get her." Tara smiled.

They got to the restaurant and Chloe looked over at Oliver as they waited for their table. "You haven't proposed to me in two weeks." She pointed out.

"I thought I'd give you a break." Oliver shrugged.

"Well good." Chloe smiled. "You know for a minute I thought you were bringing me here to propose." She laughed. "You know the romantic restaurant, the flowers, doing something cheesy like putting the ring in my champagne or something."

"Chocolate cake." Oliver muttered under his breath.

"Huh?" Chloe looked up at him.

"Nothing. Of course not." Oliver smiled. "I would never be that cheesy."

"Right." Chloe said. They were led out their table and Oliver excused himself to go to the bathroom. He detoured to the kitchen and the chef smiled.

"Mr. Queen, do you have the ring?"

"Change of plans." Oliver said. "We won't be proposing tonight."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that."

"Yeah." Oliver sighed. "So am I."

He left the kitchen and pulled out his phone. "Hello." Tara answered.

"She thinks the dinner proposal thing is cheesy." Oliver said.

"You asked her already?" Tara sighed.

"No, she brought it up. She said she was thankful I didn't do it this way."

"Oh." Tara said. "So we come up with a new plan?"

"Yeah." Oliver said. "You start on that."

He put the phone back in his pocket, knocking it into the ring box and sighed, determined to have a nice diner anyway.

Tara's next plan involved a little more planning. "Does she like sports?"

"She loves soccer." Oliver said. "Or well football, she lived in England for a while. She's just starting to get into American football, I think it's because of David Beckham but she denies it."

"Ok, then take her to a game and do the jumbo tron proposal." Tara said.

* * *

Oliver set the whole thing up, found out which team was her favorite, bought the tickets, bribed the guy who controlled the jumbo Tron and settled in his seat. He checked pocket five times to make sure the ring was still there. Finally the time came and the announcer advised everyone to turn their attention to the big screen and Oliver reached in his pocket. Then he saw the words come up on screen and his heart sank. "Oh god." Chloe put a hand to her heart. "For a minute there I freaked." She smiled and looked at Oliver. "I thought that said Chloe."

"Yeah." Oliver smiled and took his hand out of his pocket. "Lucky break."

Everyone was looking around the arena for the couple and they finally heard a woman screaming with joy. "Of course I'll marry you." She was saying to a very stunned man sitting next to her.

"They spelled her name wrong?" Tara said quietly on the phone the next day, checking to make sure Chloe couldn't hear her.

Oliver groaned. "Lucky for us there just happened to be a Clara there. Her boyfriend was pretty surprised by the whole thing."

"I'm sorry Oliver." Tara sighed. "I'll come up with something else."

"Yeah." Oliver said wearily.

* * *

It took another three weeks to set the whole thing up but Oliver was sure this one would work. "Ok, we're going about this all wrong." Tara told him. "We're going too public." Oliver nodded. "You guys are pretty private people. So just arrange for a romantic night at home. Her favorite food, roses, music, candlelight and just ask her."

"That I can do." Oliver smiled.

The plan seemed easy enough, he wasn't going to try and cook for her but he managed to get one of her favorite local chefs to create a meal for them. The problem was making sure the that the guys were all otherwise occupied for the evening that he had in mind. AC was going down to Hawaii for some surfing competition and Victor needed to spend a night in the lab for yearly maintenance. Getting his oil changed and rotating the tires, as he called it. The only problem was Bart. If Oliver tried to get Bart out of the house, Bart would want to know why and there was no way he could keep a secret so Oliver told Bart he needed something from one of his offices in Tokyo and he'd really appreciate it if Bart could go pick it up because he couldn't wait for it to be mailed. He also said that Bart was free to spend some time in the city and gave him a little spending money.

The candles were lit, the diner was perfect, he had rose petals scattered all over the bed in the bedroom and Chloe was in a particularly good mood. "So you had a good day?" Oliver asked handing her a glass of wine.

"A great day." Chloe said. "Not only did I steal them right out from under RLB Internationals nose, I closed the deal before they could even try and win them back."

"That's great." Oliver smiled. "I didn't actually make the dinner." Oliver sat down on the couch next to her. "But it's still pretty good and it's getting cold."

"Oh." Chloe set her wine glass down and snuggled closer to him. "I was thinking we could move straight to dessert." She kissed him softly and then started to pull his shirt out of his pants.

"Chloe. I went through a lot of trouble to set this up. Don't you want to eat?"

"The food will still be there." Chloe smiled and unbuckled his belt. "We can heat it up."

"You said putting perfectly good food in a microwave is a crime punishable by death." Oliver reminded her.

"I'll risk it." Chloe smiled and the way she was working his throat he decided to just go for it. They were just getting to the good stuff when the elevator bell dinged and the doors opened. Oliver lifted his head and saw Bart and Victor walk out.

"Who is it?" Chloe whispered reaching for the throw blanket to cover herself up.

"Bart and Victor." Oliver said.

"We just have to drop this off to the boss man and then we can figure out something to do tonight." Bart said putting the envelope on the counter.

Oliver sighed and stood up. "What are you doing here?" He asked.

"Holy shit." Bart jumped up. "Where you two there the whole time?"

Chloe had stood up with the blanket wrapped around her top. "I'm so telling AC." Victor laughed. "You promised him you wouldn't do it on the couch."

"We didn't do it on the couch." Chloe glared.

"Thanks to you." Oliver said. "I thought I sent you to Tokyo."

"Been and back." Bart pointed to the folder.

"I thought you were gonna stay, hang out." Oliver asked as Bart started picking food off of the plates on the kitchen table.

"Tokyo was boring and then Vic called and said the lab guys had to push back his appointment a few days so we were gonna figure out something else to do." Bart smiled. He saw Oliver glaring at him as he brought the fork to his mouth and froze. "Sorry were you guys not finished with this?"

"It's fine Bart." Chloe assured him. "We've got plenty of food." Chloe said pulling her shirt over her head and dropping the blanket before walking over to the table. "So what's your plan for the night?"

"I was thinking of going to see that new movie down at the Riata." Bart said.

"Oh, the one with Bruce Willis?" Chloe smiled.

"Yeah you guys wanna come?" Victor asked.

"Sure." She turned to Oliver. "You wanna go?"

Oliver looked around the apartment and sighed. "Yeah sure, let me just…" He grabbed his shirt and pulled it on. "I'm gonna grab a sweater from my room, those theaters are always freezing."

"Sure." Chloe said. "We'll wait downstairs."

Oliver walked in his room and pulled the ring box out of his pocket. He couldn't force the perfect moment, obviously. He pulled out his desk drawer and dropped the box in it. He grabbed the sweater and turned off the lights.

* * *

Chloe went up to Chicago to help Janet get settled in and bring her the cure, they'd finally finished recreating the formula and Chloe wanted to bring it to Janet herself, make sure this was what she really wanted, and she had another errand to run. "What are we doing here?" Janet got out of the cab and ran up the sidewalk to catch up with Chloe.

"Frustrating not knowing everything isn't it?" Chloe smirked at her. Yesterday after insisting it was what she wanted Chloe gave Janet the cure and she said she'd had the best night sleep of her life.

"No, it's wonderful." Janet slipped her arm in Chloe's and they walked up a set of steps to a brownstone. "So what are we doing here?"

"We're visiting an old friend." Chloe knocked on the door. A few seconds later a man answered looked at Chloe, shook his head and slammed it.

"Some old friend." Janet laughed.

Chloe rolled her eyes and knocked again. "Jackson, I'm not here to ask you for anything, I'm actually here to give you something."

The door opened slowly. "What?" He asked.

"Can we come in?" Chloe asked and for the first time Jackson noticed Janet standing there.

"Sure." He opened the door and Chloe walked in smiling.

"Nice place." She smiled. "Jackson, I actually wanted to introduce you to my friend, Janet." Janet held out her hand. "She just moved to Chicago."

"Nice to meet you." Janet smiled.

"You actually know her by another name." Chloe said. "Cassandra." They both looked at Chloe. "And you might know him better as Subject 45." They turned their attention back to each other and smiled slightly.

"You're the one who rescued me." Janet said.

"You're the one who rescued me." Jackson reminded her.

"Hey, actually I believe we were the ones who did the rescuing." Chloe pointed out.

The both rolled their eyes. "Oh, just let her have this one." Jackson said.

"Let me have this one?" Chloe put her hands on her hips and glared. "Let me have…"

"Didn't you say you brought me something?" Jackson interrupted her.

Chloe reached into her pocket and pulled out a small glass vial full of liquid and tossed it to him. He caught it expertly and looked at it confused. "What is this?"

"A cure." Chloe said.

"A cure for…" He looked up at her confused and then back at the vial. "For me? For my…"

"Power." Chloe said. "Yeah."

"I don't understand." Jackson said.

"Yeah well I don't either." Chloe said. "I love my power but I can understand how some other people might not feel that way."

"It works?" Jackson asked.

"Yeah." Chloe said. "Just ask her."

"You took it?" He smiled.

"Yesterday." She said. "This is the first vision free day I've had since I was a kid."

"Do you regret it?" Jackson turned the vial over in his hands.

"No. Then again I've only been powerless for a day." Janet said. "But I don't think I'm gonna miss it."

"What do I do?" Jackson asked.

"Are you sure?" Chloe said. "A memory like that can be pretty useful."

"Yeah." Jackson laughed. "It was useful in school, never failed a test as long as I read the material, helped you guys out but there are other things."

"Like what?" Chloe asked.

"Like, have you ever read a book, then a few years later read it again and it was like reading it for the first time?"

"Yeah." Chloe nodded.

"I can't do that. I read it once, I remember everything about it." Jackson said. "The same with movies and plays. It may seem stupid but I want to be late for work because I can't find my car keys, I want to get frustrated and have to go back to the store because I forgot to get toilet paper. I just want to forget things." He told her.

"Ok." Chloe said reaching in her bag and pulling out a syringe. She pulled it out of the plastic bag and nodded to Janet. "Can you get the alcohol out of my bag?" Janet nodded. Chloe took the vial from Jackson and filled up the syringe. She put some alcohol on a swap and grabbed Jackson's arm and then cleaned a spot.

"Does it hurt?" Jackson asked. "I don't really like needles."

"It's fine." Janet took his hand. "It only pinches."

"Really?" Jackson smiled at her and Chloe stuck the needle in and then she was done and he didn't even notice, he was so busy looking at Janet.

"You feel any different?" Janet asked.

"I don't know."

"It takes a while to work." Chloe said. "Just be patient." She wrapped the needle in a paper towel and put it in her bag. "Well, there you go. Janet." Chloe headed to the door.

"You're new to Chicago?"

"Just moved in this weekend." Janet said.

"Maybe I could show you around, go get some coffee." Jackson smiled.

"Yeah, I'd like that." Janet said. "Chloe you know the way back to the hotel?"

"Yeah." Chloe smiled. "You know actually I'm gonna head home if that's ok, we're going to Smallville for Memorial day weekend and…"

"Sure, no problem." Janet said to her. "And you know thanks."

"That's what I'm here for." Chloe smiled and walked out as Jackson told her about all the places she had to see in Chicago.

* * *

She got back from Chicago and immediately turned around and left for Metropolis. Ms. Kent finally got the carnival to come back to Smallville for the big Memorial day weekend celebration. There was going to be all the fun carnival stuff. Eating contests, livestock contests, rides, and a very large hay maze.

"What exactly is a hay maze?" Oliver asked as they walked through the town.

"Well it's a big maze, made out of hay bales." Chloe told him. "They've been building it out in Fletchers Field for weeks now. It's supposed to be the biggest one in the country."

"Sounds interesting." Oliver said diplomatically.

"I'm excited." Bart said munching on something he bought off a street vendor. "Bet you I can do it in Five…no four minutes."

"Without powers?" Victor asked.

"Why would I do it without powers?" Bart asked.

"I thought we'd do the maze today and the livestock competition tonight. The Kent farm has a few entries." Chloe said. "Tomorrow we'll do the whole carnival thing and then Sunday night is the dance and the fireworks show."

"Good thing we don't have this too planned out." Oliver said. "Have you penciled in time for fun?"

"This will be fun." Chloe dragged him to the Talon. They were getting coffee and then heading to the maze. "Lois." Chloe cried. "Tell him the maze is fun."

"The maze is evil." Lois said.

"Oh yeah, wrong person to ask." Chloe cringed. "I forgot she had a bad maze experience a few years ago."

"Bad maze experiment?" Oliver asked.

"I got lost." Lois said. "For three hours."

Oliver turned to Chloe. "We won't get lost." Chloe insisted. "If we do, we have Bart and Superman to help us out."

"Yeah you have to do the maze Oliver." Lois said.

"But you just said it was evil." He reminded her.

"It is." Lois said. "But I'm gonna do it again, and I'm gonna beat it." She said with such conviction it wasn't fair to laugh at her. "You guys get the coffee and me and Chloe will get the flares."

"Flares?" Chloe asked.

"I'm not relying on Superman or Impulse." Lois said. "I'm bringing my own back up."

"But flares." Chloe said. "I mean we're gonna be in a maze made out of hay, very flammable hay."

"Flare's go up." Lois told her.

"You get the flares, I'll grab the fire extinguisher." Chloe smiled.

Four hours later Lois and Chloe ran out of the maze screaming and laughing. "Let's go again." Chloe said.

Oliver walked out behind them and groaned. "We've done it five times."

"But we almost have it down." Lois said. "We only took one wrong turn that time."

"We're gonna be late for the livestock competition." Oliver said.

"Since when have you cared about a livestock competition?" Chloe asked.

"Since I desperately don't want to go through the maze again." Oliver pleaded with them.

"You head over there, we can make it in twenty five minutes if we don't take any wrong turns." Chloe said.

"Ok." Oliver sighed. "I'll go find the guys."

Chloe and Lois walked around the maze and then got back in line to go through it again. "So what's going on with you and Oliver?" Lois asked. "You guys ok?"

"Yeah." Chloe said confused. "Why?"

"Nothing it's just, I haven't heard a marriage proposal all day."

They got in the maze and immediately went left as everyone else tried to decide between three different paths. "Yeah he stopped asking a few weeks ago. To be perfectly honest, I kind of miss it. I mean I don't want to marry him yet, but it was nice to be asked." Chloe shrugged. "You don't think because he stopped, that means he doesn't want to anymore?"

"I think it means he doesn't want to hear "no" anymore." Lois pulled Chloe left when she tried to go right.

"I want to marry him." Chloe said. "I really do. I mean I never thought about it before, until he started asking."

"But just not yet?" Lois asked.

"Not yet." Chloe said.

"Why not?" Lois started to turn and Chloe grabbed her to keep going straight.

"Huh?" Chloe asked.

"What's the difference between today and next year?" Lois asked her.

"A year." Chloe said. "That's the difference."

"What's a year?" Lois said. "Look, I'm not one to butt into other peoples business." Chloe snorted. "But the fact of the matter is, you two wouldn't have even gotten together if it weren't for me so maybe it'll take me to get you engaged."

"You don't put a lot of stock in yourself at all do you?" Chloe asked taking another corner.

"Yeah, well I live up to the reputation." Lois smiled. "So look, you love him, you want to marry him, you want to…make babies with him and be the Watchtower to his Green Arrow and you want to do it forever and ever so what does it matter if forever starts tomorrow or next year? It'll still be forever."

Chloe frowned and then glared at Lois. She opened her mouth to counter and Lois shook her head. "And don't give me that bullshit about you aren't sure if Oliver really wants to marry you or whether it was just a whim, that he only asked because he was so happy that you weren't dead. The man proposed thirty one times." Lois said. "He wants to marry you, and now he's stopped asking, not because he's changed his mind but because you wanted him to stop asking you. He loves you, you love him, just put him out of his misery and give the man his happily ever after already." Lois said.

"Are you finished?" Chloe chuckled at her.

"Yes." Lois smiled.

"Good." Chloe said. "You been practicing that speech?"

"A little." She admitted. Chloe laughed and they decided to finish the maze at a run to make it to the livestock competition.

* * *

The Kent farm won every thing they entered and they celebrated back at the farm. The next day they did everything they could think of to do at the carnival. Bart entered and won the pie eating contest, Oliver won Chloe a giant stuffed bear at the target range, although there was hardly any competition and they ate every bad carnival food product imaginable. The sun went down and they all stayed, riding the carnival rides were better in the dark Lois said. They were in line for the Ferris wheel when Oliver got a phone call and excused himself. "We're next." Chloe said.

"Ride one with the bear and I'll be back for the second round." Oliver kissed her cheek and Chloe sighed climbing in the seat and settling the giant bear next to her. She went one full rotation and then the wheel lurched to a stop with her car just a little way from the top. She looked down confused. There were no other people in line. Her, Lois, Clark, and Oliver were the only ones who wanted to ride. Bart didn't do heights and Victor said the spinning made him sick and AC was trying to beat Kara at the ring toss.

"What's going on?" Lois screamed from below her.

"I don't know." Chloe said. "Hey." She screamed down. "What's up?"

"It's stuck." The operator said. "It does this every now and then."

"How long to fix it?" Chloe asked.

"A couple of hours." The operator screamed. "We've got to run out for the part."

"Hours?" Lois screamed. "That's it." She said to Clark. "Get me out of here."

"I can't just fly you out of here Lois." Clark laughed.

"Stupid secret identities." Lois glared.

"Hey." Oliver screamed. "What's going on?"

"We're stuck." Chloe said. "The guy said about two hours."

"Hours?" Oliver said. "That sucks."

"Yeah and I'm up here alone." She screamed at him.

"Oh, I can fix that." Oliver smiled and jumped up on the landing.

"Sir." The operator said.

"I'll be back." Oliver said to him as he set his foot on one of the metal supports and lifted himself up.

"You can't go up there." The operator said.

"You gonna come after me?" Oliver winked and started to climb.

"Oliver, you're gonna break your neck." Chloe screamed at him.

"Nah." Oliver said slipping a little but catching himself. "I'm fine, I do this all the time."

"You do not." Chloe screamed at him. "You're crazy."

"Well I can't have you up there alone now can I?" Oliver climbed a little more and then sighed and looked around. "Huh, it looks like I'm stuck." He didn't have anywhere to go.

"You're stuck." Chloe said. "Well that's great isn't it?" Chloe threw her hands up. "You get yourself into these situations all the time because you don't think them through." Chloe groaned. "Can you get down?"

"No." Oliver said. "I don't think so."

Chloe rolled her eyes and undid her belt. She stood up and grabbed onto the side support. "Hey, stay in the car." The operator screamed up. "I can't have all these crazy people climbing all over the place."

"Yeah how are you going to stop me?" Chloe called down as she found a foot hold and swung herself out of the car and started to climb down. She yelled the whole time. "I swear sometimes you're stupider than Bart."

"Hey." Bart screamed. She looked down at him to see that they'd gathered a little crowd.

"You never think of the consequences of your actions, you just do it. No plan, no thought, just action." Chloe grumbled.

"I was doing this for you." Oliver said. "So you didn't have to sit up there alone."

"Did I ask you to do that?" Chloe asked.

"No." Oliver said. "I thought it would be romantic." He smiled up at her and she stopped. It was romantic actually, it was pretty freaking romantic and here she was yelling at him for it. The man scaled a Ferris Wheel just so she wouldn't be bored for two hours. "Chloe?" Oliver called. "Are you stuck?"

"No." She shook her head. "Ask me again."

"What?" Oliver said confused. "Are you stuck?"

"No." Chloe laughed. "Not that question, the other one." She looked down at him. "Ask me again."

Realization dawned on his face and he smiled. "Here? Now?" Chloe nodded. "I was waiting for the right moment."

"This is the right moment." Chloe told him.

"You sure?" Oliver asked and she nodded. "Are you going to say yes?"

"You have to ask me to find out." Chloe told him.

"Marry me." Oliver smiled at her.

"Yes." Chloe told him.

"You mean it?" Oliver smiled.

"Yes." Chloe nodded and felt the tears come to her eyes. The crowd went wild down at the bottom and Chloe laughed.

"Wait." Oliver said. "I got a ring. I wanted to do this right." He let go of one of the girders to reach in his pocket and almost fell off.

"Oliver." Chloe screamed and continued her climb down. She hurried down and landed right next to him, pulling on his shirt to keep him on balance as he dug in his pocket.

"I got it." He smiled at her and wrapped his arm around the pole. "I got it." He showed her a black box and she smiled at him. "I brought it with me just in case. Well I've been carrying it in my pocket for a few weeks now." He opened the box up and Chloe gasped looking down at the ring. "Chloe Sullivan, will you marry me?"

"Yes." She said before she kissed him. He smiled and slipped the ring on her finger before kissing her again.

"I…can you…" Oliver struggled with the words. "Can you get me out of here?" He asked laughing.

"Follow me." Chloe smiled and started to climb. He put his feet everywhere Chloe did and soon enough they were on the ground.

As soon as they were on solid ground Oliver gathered Chloe up in his arms and hugged her tight. The crowd cheered again as Chloe and Oliver kissed. "I never thought you'd say yes." Oliver smiled at her.

"Didn't give up on me did you?" Chloe teased him.

"Never." He assured her before kissing her again.

"Hey!" Lois screamed from the Ferris Wheel. "This is great, really, I'm so happy for you guys and I'd love to celebrate with you, if someone could just get me the hell down."

Chloe laughed and looked up. Lois had turned from screaming at them and started in on Clark. "He climbed up here for her and you can't even get us down."

"Lois." Clark complained and she crossed her arms over her chest in a huff.

"Victor." Chloe turned to him. "You wanna see what you can do?"

"Sure." He smiled and walked toward the operator.

"Don't give me that crap, you can help everyone else in the world but you can't get us off a damn Ferris Wheel." Lois screamed.

* * *

Victor managed to rig the engine long enough to get Lois down and Chloe's bear and they all decided they'd had enough of carnivals. Yet again there was another celebration at the Kent house that night. Clark went out and got them some champagne, the real kind, from France. Not to be outdone, Bart ran out and came back with a chocolate cake, from Chloe's favorite bakery in New York. "I can't wait to see what their wedding presents will be." Oliver laughed and Chloe froze with the glass halfway to her mouth. "You ok?"

"Oh my god." Chloe turned to him. "Wedding." She said. "We're going to have a wedding."

"Of course we're going to have a wedding." Oliver said. "That's what happens when people get married."

"I know, I know, I just didn't connect engagement and marriage with wedding." Chloe groaned. "Do you have any idea what you have to do to organize a wedding? The planning involved, the time, all the different aspects just to get to the ceremony part to say nothing of the reception, I've been helping Rose and oh God it took her four months just to find a dress. Then before you even start planning you have to decide, winter or summer, night or day, inside or outside…"

"Chloe!" Oliver grabbed the champagne glass from her and sat her down as she took in a deep breaths.

"What happened?" Lois looked at her.

"She's hyperventilating." Oliver said. "She just started freaking out."

"Chloe sweetie." Lois crouched down. "What going on, talk to me."

"Color scheme, I don't have a color scheme." Lois looked up at Oliver confused and he just shrugged. "Rose had a folder, a big folder, she'd been putting it together since she was five, do you have any idea how far behind I am?"

"What is she talking about?" Lois snapped at Oliver.

"The wedding." He said.

"Chloe." Lois grabbed her face. "You got engaged an hour ago, don't worry about the wedding right now, don't worry about the color scheme or the dress or any of that stuff."

"Look." Oliver took over. "You said yes. That's good enough for me right now. I'm not going to rush you into this, you take all the time you need for the wedding, it's all up to you."

"Really?" Chloe asked. "As long as I like?"

"Well I'm not saying take five years but I'm not gonna rush you ok."

Her breathing slowed down and she smiled. "Ok."

"Can we get back to celebrating now?" He asked her.

"Yes." She stood up and took a deep breath. "Of course."

* * *

They drank, they ate cake and they partied pretty hard. "Hey." Victor nodded at Bart who was sulking in the corner. Chloe got up and walked over sitting next to him and nudged his shoulder.

"What's up with you?" She asked. "You're the first one up for a party."

"I don't know." Bart sighed. "It's just, hitting home I guess." He motioned to the ring on her finger. "We're not gonna make it you and I are we?"

"No." Chloe said. "It just wasn't in the cards." She smiled sadly at him.

"Yeah." Bart said. "I figured. And I'm happy for you, I really am, it's just, I've been chasing you for ten years now and I might be the fastest man on the planet, but I still couldn't catch you."

"You don't want me." Chloe said. "I'm neurotic and high maintenance and a really bad kisser."

"Liar." Bart smiled at her.

"But I'm boring." Chloe told him.

"You're a secret crime fighter with superpowers."

"Yeah, but I'm a boring one." Chloe said. "I mean I like sitting home and watching movies and reading the paper. I like sitting still."

"That's true." Bart sighed.

"Oliver." Chloe called over to him and stood up. "Bart's feeling a little under the weather, I know we were gonna wait until tomorrow but what do you say we give the kid something to celebrate?"

"What do you mean?" Bart stood up and looked between the two of them.

"Well it's not a million dollars." Oliver reached in his pocket and tossed him something.

Bart looked in his hands and his eyes widened. "No way." He looked up at Chloe and then over at Oliver. "No freaking way."

"It's in the barn." Chloe smiled.

There was nothing but a red blur and everyone dropped their glasses and ran outside. They heard a car start up, tires, screeching and then in a whirl of smoke a red Ferrari 360 Modena came to a halt in front of them.

"You actually bought him a Ferrari?" Victor said walking around the car.

"He did come up with the solution of how to get into Lex's lab." Oliver said.

"But Bart, in a Ferrari? Are you out of your mind?" AC pointed out as Bart jumped out of the car excited.

"Oh, man, this is the coolest…I can't believe. Thank you thank you thank you." He was more hyper than usual. He launched himself at Chloe and then went back to admiring the car. He turned around with the biggest grin on his face. "Who wants the first ride?"

All complaints and concerns were thrown out of the window when Bart started offering rides and AC and Victor were pushing and shoving each other to get to the passenger side first. They finally decided to squeeze both of them in and Bart took off without even a goodbye. "Well." Chloe took a deep breath and smiled up at Oliver. "It's nice to know that I'm so easily replaced by a car."

"Well." Oliver shrugged. "To be fair, it's not just any car." Chloe looked up at him in astonishment and he realized he just said the wrong thing. He backed away from her slowly. "I didn't mean that. Of course you're not replaceable by a car, by any car, by anything." Chloe was still glaring at him. "I love you?" He attempted finally. She took of toward him at a run and he took off as she chased him around the house, laughing and smiling as Lois and Clark just looked on in amusement.

"You know, you're an alien from another planet with super powers, and I'm…well I'm me, but we're still the most normal of all our friends." She pointed out.

"That's kind of sad." Clark told her. They watched as Chloe caught up with Oliver and tackled him, and they rolled around on the ground laughing. "But a little reassuring."


	21. Chapter 21

"No." Chloe walked out of the elevator screaming. "No, no, no, no, no. We went over this last week, and the week before that, and the week before that." Chloe said. "I don't want the orchids, I don't want the roses, I don't want the daisies or the stupid freaking carnations. I want white tulips." 

"Flower emergency." Bart said. 

"Again?" Victor groaned. 

"Oh no." Oliver put his coffee cup down. 

"What do you mean you can't have tulips in time?" Chloe asked. "I ordered the flowers almost a year ago, is it my problem that you have a brain the size of a peanut? Yeah well I don't want your stupid flowers anyway." She hung up the phone and threw it against the wall. "That's it, the wedding is off." She stormed down the hall in the bedroom and slammed the door. 

Oliver groaned and rubbed his forehead. He turned to Victor. "No man, I did it last week." 

"I did it yesterday." Bart raised a hand. 

"No, I did it yesterday." AC told Bart confused. 

"Wrong color table clothes?" Bart said. 

"No, Band director got married and moved to Boston." AC turned to Oliver. "She's your fiancée." 

Oliver groaned and got off the bar stool. He walked cautiously into the bedroom. "Chloe, sweetie." 

"Come in." She cried from underneath the pillow on the bed. Oliver closed the door and walked slowly to the bed. He laid down and picked up a pillow and found another pillow. He picked that one up and found another one. "Are you in here somewhere?" A mountain of pillows fell off the bed and Chloe's head emerged. 

"We need to call the caterers." Chloe said. 

"You haven't picked a caterer yet." Oliver reminded her.

"Good that's one less person we have to call." She sat up straighter. "We have to cancel the decorations and the band and the priest. Well first I have to get a new phone probably, again." 

"Chloe." Oliver brushed the hair out of her face. "I'm not calling anyone, I'm not canceling anything." 

"This wedding is cursed." Chloe said. "Everything, everything has gone wrong." 

"Not everything." Oliver said. 

"My dress." She told him. "My dress was messed up three times, and it's still not ready." 

"It will be." Oliver told her. 

"And the venue, for the reception?" Chloe pointed out. "The first one was condemned by the city."

"Termites." Oliver said. "It happens." 

"And the second one?" Chloe asked. "It burned to the ground." 

"Bad wiring." Oliver said. 

"But the flowers…" 

"We can find more flowers, what ever flowers you want." Oliver said. "We are getting married in two weeks. This whole calling the wedding off thing was cute the first…" Oliver sighed. "Well actually it was never cute. I have been waiting two years for this wedding and it's going to happen." 

"But…" Chloe complained. 

"No buts, no more canceling the wedding, no more yelling at the venue manager, and no more firing the wedding planner." Chloe bit her lip. "You didn't." 

"This morning." Chloe sighed. "She kept talking about pink gauze and crystal something or others and she won't listen to me. I don't need a wedding planner." 

"Ok, we'll make a deal." Oliver said grabbing her arms and pulling her closer to him. "If I let you do this on your own with no wedding planner, you have to promise me that you won't have a complete meltdown when something goes wrong." She opened her mouth to protest and Oliver put a finger to her lips, silencing her. "You trained with Buddhist Monks for a year and a half. Just try and pull on some of that Buddhist Zen stuff." 

Chloe sighed but nodded. "Fine." 

"Now will you please make an appointment with some caterers?" Chloe groaned. "Please. If you wait any longer it's going to be impossible to find someone to do it in time." 

"Do I have to?" She whined and tried to bury herself in the covers again. 

"No." Oliver said. "You don't have to do any of this. I told you I could have a simple wedding, just family and friends, I'll wear jeans and you can wear that flowy blue sun dress I like." 

"That would be great. But…." Chloe sighed. "Oliver Queen and Chloe Sullivan can not have a quiet backyard wedding." She grabbed a pillow and put it in her lap. "I'll call some caterers tomorrow." 

"That's my girl." Oliver kissed her forehead.

"You know if I didn't know better." Chloe played with the strings on the pillowcase. "I'd say Lex had something to do with this." 

"Oh god." Oliver grabbed pillows and covered his head. 

"No, listen." Chloe dug through the pillows to find him. "I mean with everything that's happened, either this wedding is cursed or Lex Luther is trying to stop us from getting married." 

"The only reason Lex would try and stop us from getting married was if he knew who we really were and we know that he doesn't." Oliver smiled at her. "You are just trying to find anything, anything at all to pin on Lex. He's been quiet for two years. Maybe he changed, maybe you got through to him." 

"And maybe the Queen of England will get up on the desert table and dance a jig at our wedding." Chloe said. 

"The Queen RSVP'd?" Oliver smiled and Chloe nudged him in the stomach. "You'll be Zen?"

"I'll be Zen." She said.

"Good, I'm going to start calling around to find some white tulips for you." He kissed her forehead. "You start thinking about food. That always puts you in a good mood." 

He ducked as a pillow flew at his head and closed the door behind him. The guys were sitting in the living room anxiously awaiting his return. "I think we're good, we had a good talk, I think she's gonna be much calmer from now on." 

"Stupid, son of a bitch." Chloe screamed from the bedroom and the guys all raised an eyebrow at Oliver. The bedroom door slammed and she came outside and grabbed the phone. She violently dialed a number, clutching a piece of mail in her hands. 

"Chloe." Oliver warned her. "Zen." 

"Zen starts tomorrow." She said clutching the phone. "We just lost the third reception hall." She shoved a piece of paper in Oliver's hands and paced as she waited for someone to answer the phone. 

"What happened to this place?" Victor asked.

"Asbestos." Oliver said, starting to wonder himself if maybe this wedding wasn't cursed after all. 

* * *

Chloe rolled over and slammed her hand around the bedside table until she finally made contact with the alarm. She glared at the time that seemed to be laughing at her in big red digital numbers. 5:45 was far too early to get up but she had so much to do that she should have been awake thirty minutes ago, damn snooze button. She pulled herself out of bed and walked to the kitchen, already in a bad mood because she set the coffee pot for 5:00 so it would be brewed when she got up at 5:15, now it would be cold and she'd have to start over and that would take even more time. Only when she got to the coffee machine, the coffee was still brewing, steam was coming off of it and there was a mug on the counter holding down a slip of paper. "Figured you'd sleep in so I reset your timer." Chloe smiled and slipped the note in her bag, that way whenever she was about to have a breakdown she could pull it out and remind herself why she was putting up with all this wedding stuff.

She didn't want to say it, she really didn't because as soon as she said it, or even thought it, tragedy would strike but things had been going pretty smooth on the wedding front for the past few weeks. Oliver insisted it was because of her new Zen like attitude, but truthfully, there hadn't been that many screw ups that she had to apply her new Zen like attitude to. They finally decided, after losing their third reception hall to asbestos, to just have the wedding and the reception at the same place. St. Michaels had a beautiful garden that was big enough for all the people invited and they had no problem allowing Chloe and Oliver the use of it. Of course that meant renting tents for the dining area and changing most of the decorations so they would now work outside but it wasn't as bad as Chloe thought it would be. She did have a nagging little voice in the back of her head constantly pointing out to her that if something happened to this reception site, that mean the place where they were supposed to have their ceremony would be lost as well, but so far so good, fingers crossed, salt over the shoulder, sign of the cross, all that superstitious stuff that Chloe didn't put much stock in before but was becoming part of her daily routine.

It took one and a half cups of coffee to wake her up and she showered and dressed as quick as she could. She was filling up her travel coffee cup when Oliver stumbled into the kitchen. "Morning." He smiled.

"Thanks for the coffee." She kissed his cheek. "I've got to go." 

"So early?" He asked checking the clock.

"I'm probably already late." Chloe grabbed her bag. "I've got to pick up Lois from your place. Abby's plane gets here and 6:30 and Lily and Rose are coming in at 7:00. Then we have to go to the final dress fitting, swing by the church and make sure the tents have been put up, fix a problem with the menu at the caterers, and then check on the cake." 

"What problem at the caterers?" Oliver asked.

"He says the scallops he got in aren't as good a quality as he likes so he's got a few dishes for me to try and we'll swap them out." Chloe said.

Oliver looked at her for a second. "But that scallop dish was your favorite." He pointed out. "It was the reason you picked this caterer." 

Chloe took a deep breath and smiled. "I know but maybe one of the other dishes will be just as good. Zen Chloe." 

"Zen Chloe." Oliver said a little unenthusiastically. 

"I'll call you later." She blew him a kiss and then got in the elevator. If Oliver was being perfectly honest, he didn't really like Zen Chloe. Their life had become a lot more stable and a lot less hectic since Zen Chloe took over, but he missed real Chloe. Real Chloe would have yelled at the gardeners at the church for deciding the week before the wedding was the perfect time to clean out the flower beds, completely leaving the front of the church looking like a barren wasteland. Zen Chloe politely asked the brain dead landscaping crew to try their hardest to have some flowers put up by Saturday. Real Chloe would have pitched a fit to rival a two year old when her dress came in for the "final" fitting only to be three sizes too big. Zen Chloe just laughed and said it was no problem as long as it was ready for the wedding day. Real Chloe would be on the phone right now with every seafood vendor in the country trying to get enough scallops to have her favorite dish at the wedding. Zen Chloe would probably pick one of the other dishes, not liking it as much but knowing that it could be ready in time for the wedding. 

Zen Chloe was boring, Zen Chloe was too nice, Zen Chloe was unhappy. Oliver knew this, he could tell, every time something had to be changed, Chloe got this look on her face and then nothing, she wiped it clean, there was no anger, no annoyance, but no joy either. He'd been doing everything he could to counteract it, seeing as how it was basically his fault. He returned to the church and informed the groundskeeper that if the place wasn't filled with flowers by Sunday St. Michael could no longer count on his generous donations every year. He called the dress shop and made sure that they understood the dress be completely perfect the next time she came in or he would personally buy the company and close them down out of spite. Now he had to find the number for the caterer and let him know that his fiancée wanted scallops and his fiancée would get scallops or the closest the chef would ever come to running a kitchen again would be general manager in a McDonalds.

* * *

Lois was ready and waiting when Chloe came to pick her up, both planes were on time and traffic was running smoothly enough that Chloe had time to get a refill on her coffee and still made her fitting appointment on time. Lois was the only other one who needed a final fitting. Lily, Abby, and Rose had all had theirs done in London and assured Chloe that everything was perfect. Lois stood in the mirror in the main room, trying to decide if she looked more like a grape or an eggplant as the seamstress pinned up the bottom hem. Purple was not her color. "Ow." Chloe called from her private room. 

"You move." Ms. Ling scolded Chloe and Lois had to stop herself from laughing. 

"Are you almost done?" Rose called out. "I still haven't seen the dress you know." 

"Almost." Chloe said. "Ow." 

"Stop moving." Ms. Ling told Chloe and this time they all laughed. 

"I remember my last fitting." Rose said. "I loved my dress. You know I used to try it on, just a few times, after we were married, to remember the wedding." She looked down. "I haven't been able to do that in a while." She laid her hand on her very pregnant stomach and sighed, but happily. 

"Seven months?" Lois asked and Rose nodded. 

"That's it, you crazy lady." Chloe screamed. "I'm going to pass out from blood loss if you stick me with one more pin." 

"I thought she was being Zen." Abby asked. 

"It comes and goes, it mainly goes when Oliver's not around, but she does a pretty good job of keeping her temper." Lois' seamstress moved back and told Lois to walk, make sure the length was ok. She got off the stand and walked around, the length was fine, it was the color she wasn't sure about. 

"Oh Chloe, that's…" Rose trailed off. "Not at all how you described it." She sounded confused and Lois turned around to see Chloe standing in the middle of the room, typing something into her phone.

"Huh?" Chloe asked without looking up as Ms. Ling raced behind her with a box full of pins. 

"You move." She scolded Chloe and pushed her up onto the stand Lois had just vacated.

"Uh Chloe?" Lois called out to her and Chloe finally looked up from her phone and froze. 

"What the hell is that?" They both said at the same time, pointing at each other. "That's not your dress." They said again simultaneously, then both looked confused. "What do you mean?" They asked each other. 

"Stop." Chloe held up a hand to keep this echo from going on forever. She looked down at her dress and then turned quickly to the bank of mirrors behind her. "This isn't my dress." 

"That's what I said." Lois walked over to her. 

"Where is my lace, where is my bodice, where is my dress." She picked up the extremely poufy skirt and gasped. 

"You've had that on for thirty minutes, how are you just now noticing this?" Lois asked.

"I've been busy." Chloe waved the phone at her. "Ms. Ling, this isn't my dress."

"Is your dress." She waved Chloe off. "Name on bag." 

"I don't care if my name is on bag." Chloe stalked over to her bag and pulled out a very large, overstuffed folder and started flipping through pages. For once her anal retentiveness worked in her favor. She had a picture of her dress, a dress that looked very different from the one she had on, somewhere. "Here." She brought the folder to Ms. Ling. "This is my dress. I worked with the designer for five months; I took different pieces from seven dresses to create this." 

"Oh, I remember that dress, that dress very pretty." Ms. Ling smiled. 

"I know." Chloe said. "That's why I want it." She took a deep breath. "Where is this dress?"

"The pretty dress?" 

"Yes, the pretty dress." Chloe said calmly. 

"I go check." Ms. Ling smiled and walked to the front room.

"What's going on?" Abby asked concerned. 

"I'll deal with that in a minute." She turned to Lois. "This is not your dress." 

"It's the same dress I had on in the last fitting." Lois said. 

"Ok, you've seen their dresses right?" Chloe asked pointing to the other girls. "This doesn't look anything like their dresses, for one thing it's a different color." 

"I just thought I was special, being the maid of honor, sometimes people do that, make her dress different." Lois protested. 

"And purple and green do go well together." Lily said encouragingly.

"They do, yes, but I don't want a purple dress, I don't want your dress to be different, I want your dress to be the same." Chloe stomped her foot on the ground. 

"I find pretty dress." Ms. Ling said in a sing song voice. "In New York." 

"What?" Chloe groaned. "How the hell…"

"Ms. Ling fix for you. Alterations all done, I make them give dress to delivery guy on phone with me, super fast overnight delivery, be here tomorrow." She smiled. 

"Ok." Chloe took a deep breath. "Ok, now, how about this dress?" She shoved Lois in front of Ms. Ling.

"Dress very pretty, you have good taste." 

"No." Chloe said. "I don't…I mean I do…I mean, I didn't pick this dress out." 

"For that one, I have order form." Ms. Ling told them to follow her and she pulled out Chloe's order form and the sample book and sure enough she'd ordered the purple dress, which was right next to the green dress. "Is on order form, not Ms. Ling fault." 

"No, it's not." Chloe sighed. "How do I get this dress?" She pointed to the green one.

"Five weeks." Ms. Ling closed the book. 

"Chloe. " Lois grabbed her shoulders as Chloe's breath started coming faster and shorter. "Breathe, we can fix this. Zen." Lois said. 

"Zen." Chloe took a deep breath and closed her eyes. 

"Well I wish I knew about this yesterday." Rose said. "I still have the one I ordered before I got pregnant, it'll probably fit Lois." 

Chloe's eyes got huge. "Really?" 

"Yeah, but it's at home, in London." 

"That's fine." Lois said. "See, everything's going to work out. We have a friend in London, he's not leaving until tonight, he can swing by your place and pick it up. I'll call Bart and let him know he has to make a stop." Chloe relaxed and nodded. 

"Right, call Bart." She looked down. "I have to get out of this dress." 

* * *

The car came to a stop in front of the church and everyone climbed out. "Is this the church?" Lily smiled. "The stained glass is beautiful and the front…" She stopped, there was dirt all over the place, wheelbarrows, garden tools, bags of soil, but no workers.

"They're going to have it ready by Saturday." Chloe was trying to convince herself more than the others. She plastered a smile on her face. "Come on, tents are around back. They've been sitting there since last week and the workers promised me they'd be up today." 

They walked around the church and stopped. "Oh Chloe." Abby smiled. "It's beautiful." 

Chloe smiled her first real smile that day, it was beautiful. Three enormous tents had been erected behind the church. There were yards and yards of white flowing fabric and each tent was strung with tons and tons of twinkling lights and chandeliers. They walked into the largest one and Chloe held out her hands and spun around. Then she stopped. She looked around confused. She noticed Lois was doing the same thing. "Do you…" Lois asked. 

"Yeah." Chloe frowned. "You guys?" 

"Oh yeah." Rose said. 

"Excuse me." Chloe grabbed one of the guys who was stringing the lights. "Do you smell something?" 

"Yes ma'am." He nodded and started to walk off again. 

"Hold on." Chloe grabbed his arm. "What exactly is that?" 

"Oh, the tents were out here for a while and it rained so there's a little mildew." The guy said. 

"Mildew, that's exactly what I smell." Lois said then shut up at the look on Chloe's face. 

"What are we doing about that?" Chloe asked.

"They should air out by Saturday." The guy nodded. "Or we could always just put some nice scented candles on the tables, my girlfriend loves all those scented candles. 

"You can't have scented candles around food." Chloe groaned. "It messes with your taste buds." 

"Oh." The guy nodded. "Well, it should air out." 

Chloe took another deep breath and then another, and then another for good measure. "It'll air out." She said to herself. "It'll air out." She told Lois.

"Uh huh." Lois eyed her cautiously. 

* * *

"Ok, this is tasting, you love tastings." Lois tried to cheer her up as they made it to the caterer's.

"Chloe!" A man stepped away from the industrial stove and came to give her a hug. "I'm really sorry about the scallops."

"No problem Jonas." Chloe said as he sat her and her friends at the table. "What do you have for me?"

"A little lobster, a little Foie Gras, and a little shrimp." He turned around to get the plates and Chloe braced herself. 

After the tasting was done she looked up, none too excited and smiled. "The Foie Gras." She said. 

"Excellent." Jonas rubbed his hands together. "We'll make the change."

"You hate Foie Gras." Abby told Chloe.

"Yes I do but the soup course is a lobster bisque and the shrimp dish had peanuts in it, and it won't work without them so instead of making him come up with something else, I'm just gonna go with the Foie Gras." 

* * *

Chloe pushed open the doors to the bakery. "I am in some serious need of chocolate." Chloe smiled. "If she has some to let us taste, I'm warning you right now, you guys probably aren't going to get any, except Rose, cause she's pregnant, and it would be cruel to take food from a pregnant woman." Chloe smiled at the woman behind the counter. "Hey Isabel, just came to check up on the cake." 

"Stephanie's in the back now putting the final touches on it, you want to come see?" Isabel whipped her hands clean from the dough she was working on.

"Of course." Chloe said. "And I'm having a really bad day so if you happened to have any that we could sample…" 

"We had an extra cake made, just in case, let me get some icing on it and I'll have it for you in a second." Isabel smiled.

"I love you." Chloe sighed and Isabel laughed as she brought them into the back room. The cake looked perfect, it was exactly like the picture that Isabel and Chloe worked on for weeks and Chloe finally felt like something was going her way. That is until Isabel brought the tray of plates to them. 

"Uh, Chloe, just close your eyes, don't look ok." Lois said trying to cover Chloe's eyes with her hands. 

"What?" Chloe turned around and sunk into her chair, she had no more energy left at this point. 

"Wrong cake?" Abby asked, hoping she was wrong.

"Wrong cake." Lois nodded. 

"What do you mean?" Isabel set the tray down. 

"It's supposed to be chocolate." Chloe sighed. 

"No, it was chocolate." Isabel pointed out. "But you sent me an e-mail, three days ago, you changed the order to carrot cake with cream cheese icing." 

"No, I really didn't." Chloe said. 

"I have it, I have the e-mail somewhere." Isabel turned to the office. 

"I believe you." Chloe assure the woman. "Is there anything we can do?" 

Isabel looked pained. "It's an eight layer cake, it took three days just to cover it in fondant, not to mention the decorations…" 

"It's ok." Chloe shook her head. 

"No, this isn't ok." Lois cried. "This is not ok, Chloe." She turned to Isabel. "Look, I don't pretend to understand it, or even know where the hell it came from but for some reason, some completely illogical reason, Chocolate cake has a seriously significant meaning to Chloe and Oliver's whole relationship. Chocolate cake is more sacred at their house than the Pope." 

"Please don't say stuff like that in front of Father James." Chloe begged. 

"So she wants Chocolate cake, the week she's had she needs chocolate cake, and frankly after everything she's been through to get to this point, she deserves chocolate cake." Lois screamed. 

"Lois." Chloe grabbed her arm. "Just let it go." Chloe said shaking her head. "Let it go." Chloe grabbed her bag and stood up, walking to the door. "I need to go home." She paused with her hand on the doorknob. "No, you know what? I need a drink." 

* * *

"Hold on." Lois said grabbing Chloe's elbow. "We're going in the elevator. Like this, come on." She dragged a very drunk Chloe in and the doors closed. 

"Going up?" Chloe said as she stumbled around in the elevator. She pushed seven buttons before Lois could swat her hand away. "Are we going to my house?" 

"Yes?" Lois sighed. "Oliver's there. You'll be fine." 

"Oliver." Chloe smiled. "He loves me – me! Chloe Sullivan." She leaned against the back of the elevator and sighed. "He wants to marry me." 

"I know." Lois smiled. 

"No I mean he really wants to marry me. He asked me thirty two times." Chloe pointed out. "I mean that's serious." 

"You want to marry him too right?" 

Chloe made a face. "Don't get me wrong, I love him. I want to be married to him. I want to be his wife, I want to be Ms. Oliver Queen, but I don't want to marry him." She shook her head. "I don't want a wedding." 

"Well it's a little late for that now." Lois pointed out to her. 

"Can't we just say we're married and poof?" Chloe clapped her hands together. "That's it?"

"Uh, no." Lois shook her head. "It doesn't work that way." 

"Oh." Chloe sighed. 

"Why don't you want to wedding?" Lois asked. 

"It's awful." Chloe told her. "Everything is just wrong, it sucks." She crossed her arms over her chest and sighed. "He's gonna hate it. He wanted a small wedding in the backyard, just you and the guys and a few other friends. Casual dress. I wouldn't mind that." Chloe said. "I made him have the big wedding and he went along with it because he loves me but I don't want that." 

"So don't have it." Lois offered. 

Chloe snorted. "Right. The invitations are out, everything is ordered. It may be ordered wrong, but it's ordered. I can't turn back now." She sighed. "It'll be ok. I'll say I Do and that's all I have to worry about right?" 

"Right." Lois sighed. 

Chloe fell straight to the ground as the doors slid open into her apartment. "Whoa there." Oliver said running over to help her up. "You al right?"

"I'm fine." Chloe smiled at him. "I love you." 

"I love you too." He said confused. 

"I'm hungry." Chloe pushed away from him and walked to the kitchen.

"What's going on?" Oliver asked Lois. 

"It was a long, bad day." Lois said. 

"Do we have any popcorn?" Chloe screamed. 

"And Zen Chloe is a drinker." 

"I could smell." Oliver sighed. 

"I'm exhausted, I'm going to sleep, make her do the same." Lois got back in the elevator and left. 

Oliver walked over to the kitchen. "Chloe?" He asked cautiously. 

"I couldn't find the popcorn, but I found the scotch." She held up a bottle and a glass. 

"Oh, good." Oliver said. "Come sit with me for a minute. I haven't seen you all day." Chloe let Oliver pull her to the couch and then down to sit beside him. "What happened?" He took the scotch from her and set it on the other side of the couch. 

"Where to start." Chloe yawned. "My dress is in New York, I ordered the wrong one completely for Lois, the flower beds are still empty at the church, the tents smell like mildew, and our wedding cake has somehow gone from eight layers of chocolate to eight layers of carrot cake with cream cheese icing."

Oliver froze. He was expecting something more along the lines of, "the florist was twenty minutes late", not "the wedding's going to hell in a hand basket". He looked down at Chloe. "Well, what did you do?" 

"The dress was shipped from New York it'll be here tomorrow. Lois is going to use the one Rose ordered before she got pregnant, the gardeners are going to try their hardest to have everything ready by the wedding and the tents should air out." Chloe said. 

"What about the cake?" 

"There's nothing to do about it." Chloe shrugged. "It was already pretty much decorated." 

"And you're ok with that?" Oliver asked cautiously. 

"Oh yeah." She yawned again. "I'm totally cool. I'm Zen." She said before falling asleep. 

* * *

Chloe woke up with a start, the sun was shining so brightly through the windows, that the heat and the light kept her from sleeping. Something wasn't right so she turned to the clock on the bedside table and jumped out of bed. "10:30?" She screamed at Oliver as he worked at the kitchen table. "You let me sleep until 10:30?" She was running around the kitchen, starting a pot of coffee and grabbing her phone to check her messages.

"You were exhausted, and a little drunk." He informed her. 

"Yes, ok, that was my fault but it's the day before the wedding Oliver, I can't sleep until 10:30, I've lost almost four hours." She listened to the messages, nothing pressing, mostly Lois and Abby making sure she was ok. The day before came crashing down around her like broken glass and she slumped against the counter. She remembered it all now, the dresses, the tent, the foie gras, the cake. "I have so much to do before the rehearsal." She practically downed the coffee, scorching her throat but she didn't care. "I have to take a quick shower so I can make sure everything's ready at the church, god I hope the tents aired out, and then I have to go check that the dress made it here ok and that the alterations really are done. Oh, the rehearsal is at five o'clock ok, don't be late please, also could you call and confirm our reservation for the rehearsal dinner?"

"Sure." Oliver smiled at her. 

"Ok." Chloe took a deep breath and thought "Zen" and then showered and changed before leaving. She wasn't out the door two minutes when Oliver's phone rang.

"Bruce is coming in a three, make sure you pick up the tuxes and make the boys try them on before you leave the store, I don't want to have to go back the day of the wedding because someone's sleeves are too short." She racked her brain. "Oh, you have to pick the rings up before five from the jewelers. He also has my wedding jewelry and he says it's ready so if you could grab that, I'd be really grateful. Oh and…no thats it…oh…no." 

"Chloe, everything is fine." Oliver told her. "I'll pick up Bruce, the rings, the tuxes, your jewelry and we'll be at the church by five." 

"Thank you." She sighed. 

* * *

Oliver walked into the church with Bruce, Bart, AC, and Victor. "Where's Clark?" Lois asked. 

"He had an emergency in China." Victor said. "He promised he'd be here." 

"He'd better." Lois nodded. 

"How's it going?" Oliver nodded to Chloe who was pacing back and forth at the front of the church. 

"I don't know if you noticed but the flower beds are still a mess, the tents smell worse if that's even possible and her dress wasn't there for first thing delivery. She's on the phone with Ms. Ling right now. 

"Give me the tracking number that the lady in New York gave you." Chloe said. "Because I want to know where my dress is." Chloe wrote something down, hung up the phone and dialed another number. "Yes, I need to track a package please." She sighed and smiled and waved at Oliver and the guys. Oliver walked over and kissed her on the cheek. "Hey how was your day?" 

"Fine." Oliver said to her.

"Hey Bruce." Chloe gave him a hug. "I'm on hold." She motioned to the phone in her ear. "Flight ok?" 

"Yeah, it was great." He said to her. 

"Good." She nodded. "AC, didn't you have a rally today? Animal testing?" 

"Cosmetics company." AC nodded. "We did pretty good." 

"That's great." She was about to say something else when she held up her hand. "Yes, thank you…I'm sorry could you just repeat that for me please…no that's what I thought you said. No I have to go now and throw up." She dropped the phone to the ground and sat down wearily in the front pew. She put her head between her legs and tried to take deep breaths.

"Chloe?" Oliver asked concerned. 

"Paris." She said through clenched teeth. 

"What?" Lois asked. 

"My dress is in Paris. They shipped my dress to Paris." She repeated, laughing a little at the absurdity of the situation. 

"Paris, France?" AC asked stupidly and Victor hit him in the head. 

"Just breathe Chloe, remember Zen." Lois put a hand on Chloe's back to calm her down and Chloe shoved it off and lifted her head when the door opened. 

"We've got the cake." Isabel said from the back of the church. "Where would you like us to put it?" 

Chloe looked from Isabel to Lois and then smiled. "Screw Zen." She stood up and Lois took a step back at the look on her face. "I'm not Zen, that's not me, it's not how I work it's not how I live and I just can't do it anymore. You wait there." She pointed to Isabel who sat down and nodded. 

"Chloe…" Lois said cautiously. "Don't do anything you're going to regret." 

Chloe just smiled and stormed to the back of the church. The workers were out there setting up all the tables and chairs. Chloe wove her way through them as Oliver and the guys made it to the tents. "Holy Mother of God." Bruce put his hand over his mouth. 

"Mildew." Lois said. 

"Hey." Chloe glanced around at all the people who were working and zeroed in on the guy with the clipboard. "Hi." She said stopping in front of him. "I don't think we've met, I'm Chloe Sullivan, I'm the bride." He smiled politely and shook her hand. "I would really love for you to explain to me, how exactly you expect my guests to sit out here and eat the very expensive five course meal that I spent 18 hours working on with the caterer when all they are going to be able to do is try and politely control their gag reflexes after they get one whiff of the stench that seems to permeate every inch of this putrid cesspool you'd like to call my dinning tent?" 

"Ma'am, as we've explained the tents were left out, and they got a little mildew, they should air out by…" 

Chloe held up her hand. "Let me stop you right there. I am the bride, you do not explain things to me, you apologize profusely for your mistake and then you do whatever I tell you to do to try and make it up to me, as feeble as the effort may be." He opened his mouth and she glared. "It should air out, just isn't going to cut it anymore. The smell has tripled in intensity since yesterday, it's literally just baking in the sun, and I really don't see it going away by tomorrow afternoon. So here's what we're going to do. What's your name?" 

"Richard." He stammered. 

"Richard." Chloe smiled at him. "You are going to get me new tents. You are going to take these down, find new ones, better ones, ones that don't smell, you are going to put the new tents up and when I get here tomorrow at eleven they are going to look as beautiful as these tents do and that's all there is to it." 

"I'm sorry but that's just not possible." Richard told her. 

"You are going to make it possible." Chloe explained to him. "You want to know why?" She took a deep breath. "Do you realize who is coming to this wedding tomorrow? Basically the top ten percent of the accumulated wealth of the entire world, not to mention a fair amount of royalty. And when they come in here in their designer gowns and thousand dollar suits and start puking on each other because of the smell, you know how they're going to blame? They aren't going to blame me, no, they're going to blame you Richard, they're going to blame your company, and I can guarantee you that you will be bankrupt by Monday, are we understanding each other here?" 

"Yes ma'am." Richard nodded.

"Get to work." Chloe said turning around. Richard immediately called his workers around him and started explaining that the tents would have to come down. 

"She's back." Oliver smiled in relief.

"Way to go Chloe." Lois clapped. 

"I'm nowhere near done." She said storming back into the church. The priest was at the altar and he smiled when he saw them. 

"Are we ready to get started?" He asked. 

"Not yet." Chloe said. "Father James. I have been so very patient with you and I really don't want to stand here in a church of God and yell at a man of the cloth so I'm going to make this easy for you. I don't know who decided it was a good idea to rip up the lawn of the Church five days before my wedding; I really don't want to know either. What I want more than anything in this world is for you to make sure you have those flower beds taken care of by noon tomorrow. I don't care if it means that you spend the entire night on your hands and knees planting the things by yourself. There will be no bags of soil, no wheel barrels or gardening tools littering the lawn when guests start arriving tomorrow. It will be as close to perfection as you can achieve and for your sake I hope that's pretty damn close." 

Father James could only nod. "Ok, Chloe, maybe you should…" Victor tried to step in. 

Chloe turned on Lois who jumped back in surprise. "I don't care if a volcano is about it erupt in Hawaii, or an earthquake is about suck and entire country into oblivion or a plane is about to plummet into the Atlantic Ocean, I want you to get on the phone with your boyfriend and tell him that my dress is in Paris and if it isn't here in twenty minutes, in pristine condition, I know about ten different places that I can go to find some very sizeable chunks of kryptonite." Lois nodded and pulled out her phone. 

"I can go get your dress Chlo." Bart offered. 

"No you can't because you'll be busy." She told him. "I want you to find every, single available scallop that exists on the face of this earth and I want you to deliver them to Jonas and tell him that if he wants to retain the ability to cook with both of his hands, I will get my scallop dish, and it will be wonderful." Bart nodded. "Now." Chloe snapped at him. She turned to Isabel and smiled sweetly.

Isabel stood up, a little unsure, a little frightened. "Chloe?" She asked. 

"I want Chocolate cake." Chloe said. "To be perfectly honest, none of those other things, not a single one of them is more important to me than having chocolate cake." She slowly walked toward Isabel who had to force herself not to walk backward. "I'm going to get chocolate cake ok?" 

"Ok." Isabel said. 

"You're going to go back to the bakery. You're going to start working, and you're going to keep working until you can no longer stand and you're going to deliver to me the most beautiful chocolate cake that anyone has ever seen. Is that clear?" 

"Yes ma'am." Isabel said. "I'll go, now." 

"Thank you." Chloe sighed in relief as Isabel hurried out the door. She turned around and clapped her hands. "So, we ready to get this show on the road?" 

Father James looked confused for a second then nodded. "Right, yes, if you'll just stand here." He told Oliver.

* * *

"I can't believe you yelled at the priest." Clark said astonished as Bart filled him in on Chloe's minor meltdown at the Wedding Rehearsal. They were all sitting around a large table having the rehearsal dinner and Chloe felt better than she had in a month. 

"I didn't yell at him." Chloe said blushing. "I talked firmly to him. I yelled at everyone else." 

"Boy did she." Bart said. It had only taken him a little over an hour to get enough scallops for the wedding and Chloe was so grateful he'd gotten a kiss, on the mouth, he hadn't stopped smiling since. 

"I'm just glad I was spared." Oliver said putting his arm around her shoulder. 

"Yeah well you're just lucky." Chloe pointed out to him.

"I did everything I was supposed to do." Oliver said. "I picked up Bruce, got the tuxes, and confirmed the reservation for dinner." He held up his glass in a toast to himself. 

Chloe turned to him sharply. "Did you get the rings?" 

"What rings?" He asked picking a piece of steak off her plate and popping it in his mouth. 

"What rings?" Her voice rose and entire octave and all conversation stopped at the table, everyone turned to look at her. "You didn't get the rings? Our wedding rings? The rings that symbolize our eternal unwavering commitment to each other?" 

"You mean these rings?" Bruce asked pulling two black boxes out of his pocket and tossing them to Chloe. "Are those the rings you mean?" 

"Yes." Chloe sighed in relief. "Those are the rings." She nodded at Bruce and tossed the boxes back to him and turned to glare at Oliver. 

"I thought it was funny." He said sheepishly. "Come on." He looked around the table. You guys thought it was funny." No one wanted to even risk eye contact with him. 

"Not cool." Victor shook his head.

"Oh I see, just hang me out to dry." Oliver said. He turned to Chloe and put on his full watt, Oliver Queen, get's me out of trouble every time smile and Chloe just shook her head before she started laughing. An almost audible sigh of relief could be heard around the table as Chloe leaned her head on his shoulder. 

"You pull something like that tomorrow." She whispered to him softly. "Green Arrow isn't going to need a voice distorter." Oliver swallowed hard but kissed her forehead none the less. 

"Ok." Bruce stood up and tapped his champagne glass. "I think it's time for toasts." Chloe snuggled closer to Oliver's side and smiled up at Bruce Wayne. "I can safely say that the only reason that I'm here tonight, on many levels, is because of that beautiful woman sitting right over there." Chloe smiled as Bruce tilted his glass in her direction. "Among other things, I never would have reconnected with Ollie if it weren't for her. We did grow up together, were best friends all through school and then lost touch. There were about six years where we didn't talk, we didn't visit, we didn't write." 

"But then one day, this feisty little blonde storms into my office and demands that I buy her paper from her. Not being one to deny a beautiful woman, and not wanting to buy her paper, I deftly diverted her attention away from business and took her out to lunch. I had no clue at the time that the reason that this angel had come into my life was owed completely to my old friend Oliver, but now that I do, I need to thank him." He raised his glass at Oliver who reciprocated. "And complain." Everyone chuckled. "You don't understand she tears into your life like a hurricane and she brings all this danger and excitement with her and then, after you get to know her, it's like that moment after the storm, where the birds are still hiding and the sun is just coming out and the world looks empty and clean and completely and utterly yours for the taking." Chloe could feel tears start to sting her eyes. "And this is the most anyone has probably ever heard me talk so I'm going to wrap this up. Even though we were friends growing up we still had rivalries, contests, to see who was the smarter one, who was the better one. Well I think it's safe to say, seeing as how I was the one that got her first," He pointed out to Oliver, "that I was obviously the smarter one."

"Hey!" Oliver protested. 

"It took me two weeks, it took you ten years." Bruce pointed out and Oliver just nodded in agreement. "But I couldn't hold onto her, not many people could, but you did, so, I have to admit, you are obviously the better one." He coughed. "To Chloe and Oliver." 

"To Chloe and Oliver." Everyone echoed as they sipped their drinks. Chloe jumped up and gave Bruce a big hug and kiss on the cheek and whispered something in his ear. He smiled slightly and then kissed her on the cheek before reluctantly letting her go back to Oliver's side. 

"Ok." Lois stood up. "I guess that means it's my turn." She coughed nervously. "I have to make another one of these at the ceremony tomorrow, so I don't even know why I have to do it now." Clark nudged her in the side and she glared. "Ok, fine." She looked down the table and smiled. "First off, I think that everyone at this table would agree when I make the claim that it's really all because of me that we're all here today." Everyone laughed. "Hold on, hold on. As Bruce pointed out. It took Oliver ten years to work up the balls even tell her how he felt, and that was only because I told him how he felt." There were polite chuckles. "Don't think you're immune, you didn't know either until I pointed it out to you." Lois pointed her glass at Chloe. "On top of all that, they never would have gotten past the proposal if it weren't me either. So you're welcome." 

"Thank You." Chloe mouthed to her. 

"Enough about me." Lois took a shaky breath. "Chloe is the sister I never had." She turned to Clark. "Don't even think about pointing out the fact that I do have a sister, let me do my speech." He held up his hands in surrender and she turned back to the table. "We're closer than sisters, more than friends. She would give up her life for mine, and she has before, and I would do the same for her. The only thing I ever wanted was for her to be happy and as amazing as it sounds, Oliver makes her happy. He is probably the only man on the face of the earth that could actually handle her and the only person I trust in this world to keep her safe." 

"He doesn't know this, I'm sure Chloe's never told him, in fact she may not even remember herself. But when we were younger, I'm talking eight or nine. We'd just finished watching Snow White. I announced that I was going to be Snow White when I grew up and Chloe declared that Snow White was an idiot." They all chuckled. "I asked her, didn't she want to be awoken with a kiss by a handsome prince? She said no. She said she'd never be stupid enough to eat an apple from some creepy old woman when they had their own fruit trees right outside the house, so she wouldn't need to be woken up by some stupid prince. Then she went on to point out that the Prince was going to bring Snow White back to his castle and then she'd have to be a Princess and do stupid Princess stuff and she wouldn't be able to climb trees anymore or go exploring in the woods, two very important aspects of Chloe's eight year old life." Oliver smiled and kissed Chloe's forehead. "She did admit that it would probably be cool to hang out with dwarfs all the time, but if she was Snow White, not only would she have told the creepy woman to go peddle her apples elsewhere, she would have organized the dwarfs better and in two years time she'd be owning the mine and all the jewels that came out of it and then what would she even need a prince for?" 

Chloe was blushing by now and Oliver chuckled. "Well she may not have wanted one, she may not have thought she needed one but she got her prince. And if I know Oliver, he won't mind if she wants to go climb a tree, or go exploring in the woods." Oliver shook his head. "As long as she always came back, and I know Chloe, she'll always come back." Lois coughed and cleared her throat. "So to Oliver and Chloe, and of course to Me." She smiled and sat back down. 

Everyone drank to Lois' toast and then turned on Chloe and Oliver and started chanting. "Speech, speech, speech." 

"Ok, ok." Chloe stood up and tried to keep herself from blushing. "Ok, well, I don't actually remember that story Lois, so thank you for telling everyone." She smiled. "But it's all true." Chloe said. "If I were Snow White, I never would have been dumb enough to eat the apple, and I never would have gotten my Prince if it weren't for Lois. But I will tell you one thing; I would have owned that mine in one year, not two." Everyone just nodded. "So." She turned to Oliver. "I've been a little neurotic, a little high strung, and a lot hard to handle these past few months, but you stuck in there, because you know I love you, and because I think you're a tiny bit Masochistic." Oliver laughed. "I think everyone here knows that I wasn't always on board with this whole wedding thing. I mean it took him 32 proposals just to get me to say yes, and I've probably cancelled the wedding even more times than that. And I'm not sure if he knows, so I need to tell him this. It wasn't because I didn't love you, because I do, more than I ever thought it would be possible to love another person, and it wasn't because I didn't want to marry you because I want to be your wife more than I ever wanted anything else in this whole world. I may have had myself convinced that it was just because I didn't want the wedding, the hassle, the bother, the pretention of it all, but today when everything was going to crap I suddenly realized I did want the perfect wedding, I did want the flowers and the cake and decorations and party and you knew that even when I didn't so you must be doing something right. I think I was scared." Chloe said. 

"I haven't had that much luck with people sticking around in my life." She coughed. "And I was afraid to be too happy; afraid it would all get taken away, that you'd get taken away. I was sure someone was just going to show up and say, I'm sorry there's been a mistake, this isn't your life, and we're going to have to ask you to leave." Oliver grabbed her hand. "But that doesn't matter to me anymore." She sniffed and tried to hold back her tears. "Because whatever time I can have with you I'll take. Lois asked me what did it matter if forever and ever started tomorrow or a year from now, it was still forever. Before I would have said a year wasn't long enough, but now I don't think tomorrow is soon enough. So if it's all right with you, even though we aren't technically married yet, I'd like to start forever and ever now please." Oliver nodded at her and stood up so forcefully to give her a hug, Chloe was sure she wasn't going to be able to breathe. He pulled back just far enough to rest his forehead against her and give her the lightest kiss as he wiped her tears away. They probably stood like that for ten minutes and it wasn't until Bart coughed that Oliver even realized it. Oliver smiled and pulled back and let Chloe sit down. He watched as she grabbed the napkin from the table and wiped her eyes. 

"Don't put that down yet." He told her. "I haven't gotten my say." She smiled up at him as he took a deep breath. "Well, like Bruce, I'm not usually one for speeches. But I can't let her show me up now can I?" He smiled. "First things first. You'd own that mine in _six_ months and in a year you'd be renting out space to potential prospectors. Second of all if for some reason you're right, somehow there's been a mistake and someone tried to take you away from me, come on, you really think they'd get very far?" Chloe smiled. "If they did manage to get past me, and that's a big if, there are several other people at this table who might have something to say about that. So you're stuck with me, you're stuck with us, forever and ever as you put it, and I couldn't be happier. It took me ten years to kiss you , 32 proposals to get that ring on your finger, and two years of cancellations to get to this point and I'd do it all over again if I knew it was the only way to be sure I'd wake up every morning to your beautiful face." He cleared his throat. "As much as it pains me to say it, because we all know she doesn't need a bigger head, Lois was right about another thing. I don't care if you want to go climb a tree or explore the woods, cause I'll be right there with you the whole time, either helping you out, or just cheering you on and if for some reason, you have a temporary lapse in sanity and eat the poisoned apple, I'll kiss you until my lips go numb trying to wake you up, whether it takes a day or a week or a month, because there's no way I'd ever let you go." 

It was Chloe's turn to jump up and hug him. She pulled away and they sat back down and Victor made fun of Oliver for being a girl and Lois was complaining that Clark never said stuff to her like that, and Bart and AC were doing what Bart and AC do best, fighting and she grabbed onto Oliver's hand and held on tight. She was scared of losing this, of losing the moment.

He squeezed her hand and leaned over to whisper in her ear. "It's ok." He smiled. "I won't let go." And suddenly nothing in the world mattered anymore because he understood how she was feeling, and she was more ready than she'd been in two years to marry him and try to do everything in her power to give him his happily ever after.

Then, of course he had to ruin the moment. "So what did you say to Bruce?" Chloe glared and turned away from him. "No seriously." He said to her. "Was it about me?" She rolled her eyes. "It was about me wasn't it?" Everyone was gathering their things and getting up from the table. Chloe was staying the night at the hotel with all the girls and the guys were going to go back to Oliver's place. 

"You just had to ruin a nice moment didn't you?" Chloe teased him as he grabbed her bag and walked with her out to the car. 

"I'm sorry." Oliver said when they got to her car. "I really am." He kissed her. "So what did you say to him?" 

Chloe threw her hands up in frustration and climbed in her car. Oliver knocked on the window and she rolled it down, trying to convey annoyance with the force she used to push the button. "What?" 

"Bruce will tell me you know." Oliver said. "If anything just to rub it in my face, so just tell me." He was practically whining now, he sounded like Bart when he didn't get his way.

"Fine." Chloe smiled at him. "I told him that you weren't better at everything." She rolled up the window as Oliver stared at her in shock. She waved and pulled out of the parking space as he seemed to snap out of his trance. 

"What does that mean?" He followed her car. "What is he better at?" Chloe just blew him a kiss and put the car in drive before pulling out of the parking lot. "Chloe!" Oliver cried after her hopelessly. 

"That was quite possibly, the cruelest thing you could ever do to him you know." Lois said from the passenger seat before they both started laughing. 


	22. Chapter 22

**4:59:58 a.m. (08:00:02 until Wedding Starts)**

Chloe looked at the clock and watched as it changed from 4:59 to 5:00 and sighed loudly. She'd been up since 4:40 but couldn't justify getting out of bed that early. In the past twenty minutes though, she had come to the realization that she probably wasn't going to get anymore sleep. She rolled over to face the other direction and froze. "Oh God." She closed her eyes and then opened them again but it didn't help. She was sitting there eye to eye with something that was completely impossible. "So this is great." Chloe whispered. "I'm hallucinating now?" Chloe asked it. "Of course, I am, I mean that just seems to fit, what with everything else that's happened in my life." It didn't say anything. "Right, not very talkative. I supposed it's time to get up then." She got out of the bed and pulled on her robe. "You coming?" She turned around to look back at the bed. "I'm gonna make some coffee, see if I can keep anything down." It got off the bed and followed her to the door. 

**5:13:29 a.m. (07:46:31 until Wedding Starts)**

"You want some coffee?" Chloe asked it. "No, hallucinations don't drink, so you're probably not hungry right?" She stared where it was sitting on the bar stool and shook her head. "I think I'm taking this pretty well don't you?" She asked. "I do." She took a sip of coffee and sighed. "Let's go sit outside on the balcony. It's a pretty day, no rain, that's good right? Although I've heard rain on your wedding day is good luck so…" Chloe pushed herself off the counter and headed to the balcony, it followed right behind her.

**6:27:43 a.m. (06:32:27 until Wedding Starts)**

All the guys sat around Oliver's penthouse waking up and getting ready for the day. "I need you three to do one last security sweep at the church before anyone gets there ok?" Oliver asked.

"Sure." Victor said checking his watch. "We can leave in about 15 minutes and still be back in time to get ready." 

"Oh, and could you drop these off to Chloe on the way?" Oliver tossed Bart two black velvet boxes. "It's her necklace and earrings for the wedding; I picked them up yesterday but didn't get a change to give them to her." 

"No problem." Bart slipped them in his pocket and nodded.

**7:13:21 (05:46:39 until Wedding Starts)**

AC, Bart, and Victor knocked on the door to the hotel room and Abby opened it looking at them confused. "What are you guys doing here? Something wrong?" 

"No." Victor said confused. "We've got Chloe's jewelry." 

"Oh, she's not here, she went back home last night. But I'll give it to her, we're supposed me over there in about an hour." 

"Home?" AC said suddenly very anxious. "What? Why? Why would she do that? She was supposed to stay here with you guys." 

"She couldn't sleep; she thought she'd be more relaxed in her own bed." Abby explained.

"Oh, no, this is bad." AC ran his fingers through his hair. "We've got to get over there now." 

"We're supposed to go to the church." Bart pointed out. "We can't just…" 

"No, we have to get to Chloe's." AC turned away from Abby without a goodbye and the guys followed completely confused. 

**7:14: 57 (05:45:03 until Wedding Starts)**

"You're a good listener you know?" Chloe smiled. "I guess that's because you can't talk back. But I do appreciate it anyway. I just needed to work through some of my problems. I do want to marry Oliver, I really do, and I'm excited about this wedding, I just don't want to get to excited you know?" It didn't say anything, it just stared at her. "I know, it's my big day and I shouldn't worry but that's what I do." She sighed. "I better jump in the shower. You just stay here." She turned on the television. "Keep yourself occupied, I'll be out in a few minutes." 

**7:18:12 (05:41:48 until Wedding Starts)**

"I don't understand." Victor said as AC sped through the streets.

"Remember that protest that I went to yesterday?" AC asked. "Well a few of us got to talking and when the rally was over…." 

**7:19:46 a.m. (05:40:14 until Wedding Starts)**

Lois grabbed her garment bag and hoisted it up a little further on her hip. She knew she wasn't supposed to be here for another hour but if she knew her cousin, she was probably in full freak out mode right now. The elevator stopped and Lois walked out, set the garment bag on the kitchen table and then froze. "Oh my God." Lois said. "Chloe." She called out. "Chloe!" She screamed. "Chloe!" 

"What?" Chloe walked out of the bedroom in a robe toweling her hair. 

"There is a…there's a…." She pointed at the couch. Chloe looked over. "There is a monkey on your couch, watching television." 

"Chimpanzee." Chloe corrected her. "And I know." 

**7:20:52 a.m. (05:39:08 until Wedding Starts)**

"Let me get this straight." Victor said calmly. "On the day before Chloe's wedding, you went to a rally protesting animal testing, which is fine, animal testing is horrible. But that wasn't enough for you, so you and some of your animal rights buddies decided to break into the lab and set the animals free." AC nodded. "And you were put in charge of the monkey."

"Chimpanzee." AC said. 

"Right, sorry, Chimpanzee. So you thought to yourself why don't I put it in Chloe's apartment?" Victor screamed. 

"She wasn't supposed to be there. She was supposed to stay at the hotel, have the wedding and the reception and she wasn't coming back until after her honeymoon, I thought it was the perfect place for him." 

"We are all screwed." Bart shook his head. 

**7:21:35 a.m. (05:38:25 until Wedding Starts)**

"You know? How on earth, how are you so calm about this?" Lois said walking a little closer and the chimp turned around and smiled at Lois as it changed the channels. 

"Well I feel a little bit better now that I know I'm not hallucinating it." She dropped the towel to the counter top. 

"You're not freaking out? You're not throwing things, going crazy?" Lois asked. 

The chimp got down off the couch and walked over to Chloe grabbing her fingers and yanking. Chloe reached down and pulled it up, setting in on her hip as it wrapped its arms around her neck. "What good is that going to do?" Chloe asked. "So there's a chimp in my apartment." She walked over to the coffee pot and poured another cup. "I don't know how it got here; I don't know where it came from but really. Waking up to a chimp, what else could happen today that's worse than this?" 

The chimp reached forward toward the fruit bowl. "Oh I'm sorry, you're probably hungry. I guess since I know now you're not a hallucination you should probably eat something." She grabbed a banana and pealed it before giving it to the chimp. 

Lois took a deep breath. "So you're ok with this?" 

"It's kind of cute." Chloe said. "And it's a good listener." The chimp squeaked and looked at Chloe. "I'm ok with this." 

"Of course." Lois mumbled. "Have a total meltdown about the silverware but be perfectly fine with a mysterious chimpanzee showing up unannounced in your apartment on your wedding day." 

"Will you look after him?" Chloe paused. "Is it a him?" She looked. "It's a him; will you just look after him while I get dressed?" Chloe pulled his arms off her neck and set him down on the counter. 

"What do I have to do?" Lois asked eyeing it like it was something disgusting stuck to her shoe.

"Just make sure he doesn't get into anything." Chloe said. 

**7:25:09 a.m. (05:34:51 until Wedding Starts)**

The guys barely stopped in front of the building, tossed the keys to the valet and ran for the elevator. The ride up seemed to take forever and they basically fell out into Chloe's apartment. "Hello." Lois said confused from the kitchen table where she was sipping her coffee. 

They all stopped. There wasn't any screaming, there wasn't any yelling or freaking out so maybe they weren't totally screwed yet. "Look around, find him." AC whispered. "Hey." He smiled at Lois. "Just thought we'd drop in." He walked over to the kitchen and started opening cabinets. "Make sure everything was ok." He looked under the sink. 

Lois turned and saw Bart and Victor looking behind furniture and in closets. "Really?" She smiled. "We'll we're all good here." 

"Really?" AC asked walking into the hall bathroom and then coming out. "That's great, that's really…" He opened up the guest bedroom and looked around. "Great." He turned and smiled at Lois. "Oh we've got Chloe's jewelry, Oliver forgot to give it to her yesterday." AC nodded at Bart and he took the jewelry boxes out of his pocket and tossed them to Lois as he lifted the window seat and looked inside.

"He's in Chloe's room." Lois smiled. 

"He's what? Who he?" AC asked, feigning confusion. 

"Lois." Chloe called out. "I thought I asked you to watch him." She walked out of her bedroom holding the chimp on her hip. "Oh hey guys." 

"I tried, but he pitched a fit, he wanted you." Lois got up to refill her coffee.

"You did?" Chloe asked the chimp. "That's so sweet." 

The chimp grabbed Chloe's neck and pulled her closer then gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Chloe." AC held up his hands. "I can explain." 

"Explain?" Chloe asked confused. "Oh, is he yours?" 

"Not exactly. We liberated him from a research facility. You weren't supposed to be here, I was going to figure out what to do with him after the wedding." 

"No worries." Chloe said smiling at him. "What's his name?" 

"Huh?" AC asked confused. 

"His name?" Chloe asked setting him on the counter and grabbing her coffee. "I can't just call him Chimp all day." 

"His name…he didn't have one, he was a test subject." AC said. 

"Oh." Chloe turned to the chimp. "That's kind of sad. How about I give you a name?" The chimp jumped up and squealed. "I think I'm gonna call you Rex." 

"So you're not mad?" Victor asked. 

"No." Chloe said. "Why would I be mad?" 

The guys turned to Lois who held her hands up in surrender. "Don't look at me. I'm just as confused as you." 

"Well I'll just get him out of your hair." AC walked forward. "I can bring him to one of the other guys for now." He picked up Rex who started crying and throw himself around and Chloe frowned. 

"Oh sweetie, you don't want to go with him do you?" Chloe asked taking him back from AC. "You probably remind him of the lab, he still a little scared. You want to stay with me huh?" Rex nodded happily. "It's fine." Chloe said. "He can stay." 

"He can…stay?" Bart asked. 

"You do know you're getting married today?" Victor pointed out. "You really don't have time to look after a chimp…" 

"Rex stays." Chloe screamed and they all jumped. Chloe smiled sheepishly. "Look, as crazy as this sounds, he is the only thing keeping me from freaking out ok, so he stays, you go." They all stared at her. "Go to the church and make sure everything is ok." 

AC, Victor, and Bart looked at each other and shrugged. They backed out of the apartment slowly as if any second she could change her mind. But she was holding onto Rex and smiling as he pulled at her hair. "This is going to be a long day." AC mumbled under his breath. 

**7:32:52 a.m. (05:27:08 until Wedding Starts) **

AC walked into Oliver's apartment trying to figure out what to do. "Should we tell him? I don't think we should tell him." 

"Tell him what?" Oliver asked staring at them with his arms over his chest. "Where have you been?" They all looked at each other and Oliver shook his head. "Never mind, while you were off doing whatever it is you did, Bruce did a final security sweep of the church." 

"Oh yeah." Bart winced. "Sorry." 

"He found these." Oliver dropped three very small cameras on the table and the guys looked at each other ashamed. 

"What's going on?" Victor picked one up to study it closer.

"We don't know yet." Oliver sighed. "He found twenty total at the church, and we found another ten here." 

"In your apartment?" AC asked concerned.

"Yeah." Oliver said, glad they were seeing the seriousness of the situation now. "I called Kara, she said she'd check Chloe's place for me." 

"So what are we going to do?" Bart asked. 

"Bruce is tracing the signal while Clark keeps an eye on the church. We're going to find out who's doing this, figure out why, and stop them before 1:00." 

"What's 1:00?" Bart asked absentmindedly.

Oliver stared at him dumbfounded. "My wedding." 

"Oh right." Bart nodded. "Sure, no problem, easy as pie." 

"Alright guys, gear up." Oliver turned to walk away then stopped. "Oh, and it shouldn't really needed to be pointed out, but if Chloe find out about any of this, we're all dead." 

"Noted." Victor nodded as he grabbed the guys and hauled them off to change.

**8:10:26 a.m. (04:49:34 until Wedding Starts) **

"Ok, we're here." Abby got off the elevator. "Who's ready to get mahhh." She jumped about two feet into the air and then turned, shoving everyone back into the elevator. "Monkey, monkey, monkey." She was repeating over and over as Lily, Rose, and Kara tried to look over her shoulder. "Monkey!" She screamed.

"Chimpanzee." Lois said walking into the room. "And you don't have to yell." 

"What…how…why?" Abby asked, still refusing to get out of the elevator, or let the others out.

"His name is Rex." Lois said grudgingly smiling down at him. "And it's a long story. He doesn't bite." Lois motioned for them to come on in and they did, slowly, hugging the walls and keeping all eyes on Rex. He made a motion with his hands at Lois who sighed. "You're still hungry." She grabbed in the fruit bowl and tossed him an apple. He screeched his thanks and bit into it. 

"I'm sorry." Abby said, cautiously stepping forward. "But it's Chloe's wedding day, is it really the time to have a monkey in the house?" 

"Chimpanzee." Chloe said walking out of her bedroom with a stuffed animal bear in her hands. "I found it." She crouched down and held the bear out to Rex. "Here you go." Chloe said as he examined the stuffed animal. "This was mine when I was little." Rex cautiously took the bear from Chloe and started to sniff it. She stepped back and smiled at the girls. "There, maybe now he won't need me to hold him all the time." 

"Hold him?" Lily asked. 

"AC broke him out of a testing lab and he's been a little clingy." Chloe said. "So what's the plan?" She smiled.

Chloe was acting as if the Chimpanzee in her living room, on her wedding day, eating an apple and snuggling with a stuffed bear was no big deal so Abby decided to do the same. "Facials." She looked at Lily who tore her gaze away from Rex and smiled. 

"Yeah, mud masks, and eye treatments." Lily said grabbing the bag she'd carried in with her. 

"Sounds good." Chloe said. "Let's get started." Rex pulled on her pants and she looked down. He held out the apple rind to Chloe and she was about to take it when Lois stopped her. 

"I taught him something, watch this." Lois said. "Rex, throw it in the trash." 

Rex looked at Lois then walked over to the sink and opened the cabinet. He turned and smiled at Chloe then tossed the apple rind into the trash can. "Good job." Lois held up her hand and Rex gave her a high five.

"That's my little guy." Chloe said happily and Rex smiled bigger.

"This is going to be a weird day." Abby sighed. 

"Going to be?" Rose looked at her. 

**8:45:03 a.m. (04:14:57 until Wedding Starts) **

"A garage?" Victor asked confused. They stood in an alleyway between two rows of houses confused. 

"This is suburbia." Bart added as if it made no sense at all. 

"This is where Bruce says the feed is going so…" He looked at the garage himself. "Can you open the door?"

"Yeah." Victor studied it. "If I can find the right frequency but…" 

"What?" Oliver looked over at him. 

"Well it's just, that's gonna be a little…lame huh?" Victor asked. "We're gonna stand out here and wait for the garage door to slowly open?" Oliver pictured it in his head. It wasn't very menacing. 

"Ok, look for a side door." Bart and AC nodded and both moved around on opposite sides until Bart called out. They met him on the left side of the house and stared at the door. 

"One, two, three." He nodded at Victor who lifted up his foot and kicked the door straight off its hinges. They all piled into the small space and looked around. There was a table full of electronics makeshift command center, multiple monitors held different pictures. A few were of Chloe's apartment and a few were of the tents at the church, Bruce must not have found all the cameras. The problem was they didn't see a mastermind.

"Please." A voice said and Oliver leaned forward to see a man cowering behind the desk chair, his hands over his heads. This whole thing was becoming less and less typical. First the garage, now the cowering. "Don't hurt me." 

"I'm not going to hurt you." Green Arrow said pulling the man up and sitting him back in the chair. "What do you want with us?" 

He looked at them all confused. "What? Nothing." He said. 

"Don't lie, we found you're camera's at St. Michaels." Oliver took a menacing step forward. "Why are you spying on us?" 

"I'm not spying on you guys, I swear." He held up his hands again. "I swear." He looked around and swallowed hard. 

"Then what's with the cameras?" Victor asked. 

"I'm spying on Oliver Queen." The guy turned around. "See." He zoomed in on a room in Chloe's house and Oliver saw Lois walk from the bedroom to the front, passing in front of the camera. 

"Why?" Oliver asked. This guy wasn't after the JLA or Meta's. He was after Oliver. "What are you doing?" 

"I'm going to ruin his wedding." The guys smiled. Oliver, Victor, AC, and Bart looked at each other confused and then turned back to their "criminal mastermind".

**8:54:17 a.m. (04:03:43 until Wedding Starts) **

Kara lifted the cucumber from her eye and saw that everyone was basically blind. "So." She looked around the room with her x-ray vision and zoomed through the apartment picking up hidden cameras left and right. She was back in her seat before anyone even noticed and she spared a look at Rex who was sleeping on the couch, curled up next to Chloe. "Are apes a traditional wedding present for your people?" She asked.

"Ha." Lois said. "Uh, that would be a no." 

"He's not a present." Chloe said. "Actually I guess you could consider him a present." 

Lois lifted one of her cucumbers and glared at Chloe. "You don't actually think you're keeping him?"

"Well…" Chloe said.

"There is no way Oliver lets you keep him." Lois said. "Wait who am I kidding, Oliver lets you do anything." 

"You know it." Chloe smiled. 

"But still, like what you really need in your life right now is a clingy Chimpanzee." Lois pointed out. 

"He's not clingy, he's just scared still. Come on, tell me he hasn't grown on you." Chloe smiled. 

Lois looked over at Rex and sighed, he did get cuter by the minute and the fact that it only took him three times to get the garbage can thing down meant he was probably pretty smart. "That's what I thought." Chloe said when Lois remained silent. "You know, I can't believe I'm actually going to say this." 

"Then don't." Lois told her. 

"But I really think…" 

"Chloe." Lois warned her. 

"Today's gonna be a good day." Chloe finished. 

"Great." Lois stood up and took the cucumbers off her eyes. 

"What is she doing?" Abby asked peaking from under hers and pretty soon everyone was sitting up and watching Lois. She stormed into the kitchen and grabbed the salt shaker. Then she walked back over to Chloe and held it out. 

"You just had to say it." Lois reminded her. Chloe grabbed the salt shaker and sighed. 

She tossed salt over her left shoulder. Lois glared. Chloe held up her hand crossed her fingers and then made the sign of the cross, "Head, heart, wallet, watch." Chloe mumbled, making sure to get it right. She smiled at Lois who shook her head. "For heaven's sake." Chloe sighed and knocked on the coffee table before spinning around three times and then spitting.

"What was that?" Abby laughed. 

"It's all the things Lois said will ward off bad luck." Chloe glared at her cousin.

"You're the one who had to jinx everything." Lois said. "Now I have to call around for a chimney sweep." She turned to Chloe. "You, turn your clothes inside out." 

"What?" Lily asked. 

"Meeting a chimney sweep on your wedding day is supposed to be good luck." Chloe said. "And turning your clothes inside out will break bad luck." Chloe didn't think she really believed any of that but she still took of her shirt and put it back on inside out.

**9:21:48 a.m. (03:38:12 until Wedding Starts)**

"We aren't going to hurt you." Green Arrow sighed looking at the pathetic excuse for a villain who raised his hands up to cover his face every time one of them moved. 

"Dennis, you need to come eat you're breakfast, it's getting cold." A woman screamed from the house.

"Just a minute mom." Dennis, they had a name now, called to her. He lived with his mom, this was getting stranger and stranger. "Look, I didn't know you guys hung out at St. Michaels, I'm not after you guys honest, I just want to get back at Oliver Queen." 

"Just start at the beginning." Cyborg said. "Why are you trying to ruin his wedding day?" 

"Because he ruined mine." Dennis said. 

"Oh, he did?" Green Arrow asked. "How did he do that?" 

"I used to work for Queen Industries." Dennis explained. "In research and development, we mainly worked in security and surveillance, it's actually pretty cool, it's like…" 

"We don't care." Aquaman held up a hand. " Back to the story." 

"Right, so the day before my wedding I get fired right. Then my fiancé leaves me at the altar." 

"How could you possibly make a connection between those two things?" Green Arrow asked. "It's not your fault if you got laid off, and you'd only been un employed for a day, I'm sure you're fiancé didn't think…" 

"You don't understand, I wasn't laid off, I was fired, by Mr. Queen himself. You get fired by Mr. Queen, you're pretty much black booked from any good tech industry jobs, she knew that, she knew I wasn't going to be able to find work. So did he." 

That was true, if someone was fired from a Queen Industries R&D team, the rest of the community pretty much knew there was a reason behind it, and that person was put on a don't hire list. "It's not like you're innocent in all this." Green Arrow said. 

"What do you mean?" Dennis asked. 

"Well Oliver Queen doesn't go around firing people for no reason." Impulse pointed out.

"It wasn't anything bad." Dennis defended himself.

Oliver suddenly recognized him. "You were the guy who got caught stealing." The only problem was he couldn't remember what Dennis had been caught stealing.

"How did you know that?" Dennis asked. 

"Hey." Cyborg had picked up a stack of paper and was going threw them. "He's the one that's been screwing everything up. He changed the cake order, sent the dress to Paris, closed down the reception halls." 

"None of that stuff has anything to do with Oliver." Green Arrow told him. "That's all hurting Chloe." 

"Well yeah." Dennis said. "She's a little high strung you know. I figured if I messed up enough stuff, she'd get frustrated and cancel the wedding, make him feel like I felt." Green Arrow reached for his bow and Aquaman put a hand on his arm.

"I'm not hurting anyone." Dennis said.

"You burned down a building." Cyborg pointed out. "There were people caught in that fire." 

"That was an accident. I just messed with wires; I didn't mean to start a fire." Dennis said. 

"Well accident or not, you did." Green Arrow took a deep breath. "And that'll be enough for the police." 

"No." Dennis cried. "I'm not done…there's more..."

"You're done." Cyborg said. "You aren't going to stop this wedding." 

Green Arrow pulled out his phone and called a contact at the police station. They tied Dennis up to his chair and started to leave before the police showed up to arrest him. "You can't stop me." He smiled at them. "Not now, my plan's already in motion." 

Oliver looked over at Victor who nodded. "What do you mean?"

"This wedding isn't going to happen." Dennis smiled. "Not if I have anything to say about it." 

"Stay here; after the police are gone see if you can figure out what he's talking about?" Oliver whispered to Victor. "We've got to get to the church." 

Victor nodded and went to hide on the other side of the house. The police came, arrested Dennis and Victor snuck back in and starting going through the computer. He had a bad feeling Dennis was right.

**11:05:21 a.m. (01:54:39 until Wedding Starts) **

Oliver, Bart, and AC got out of the car, they'd gone back home and put on their regular clothes. They were running late but they'd have enough time to change and get in their positions as long as nothing else went wrong. Oliver breathed a sigh of relief, the flower beds were immaculate. The front of the church looked better than he'd ever seen it. He went around back and walked into the tents, where people were still working in a flurry of action and took a deep breath, no mildew. "Let's get to the room." Oliver said and looked at his watch. "Why hasn't Victor called in yet?" He looked up and paused, staring in the other tent confused.

"What?" Bart asked. 

"I could have sworn…" He shook his head. "No, I'm starting to go crazy." He turned around. "I thought I just saw a monkey." 

AC opened his mouth to correct him. "Chiaanihaah." Was all that came out because Bart slapped a hand over his mouth. 

"Huh?" Oliver turned around. 

"Nothing." Bart smiled. "Let's go get ready.

**11:15:50 a.m. (01:44:10 until Wedding Starts) **

"Rex." Lois said weaving through tables on her hands and knees. "Rex, this isn't funny, get back here before someone sees you." She caught up to him and grabbed his hand. "We have to stay in the bridal suite." Lois said dragging him back into the church. "You can't just go running off whenever you want." Lois groaned. She was running around a church, chasing after a chimp in her bridesmaid gown and heels, this was not how she pictured spending Chloe's wedding day.

Rex screeched and Lois rolled her eyes. They got back into the bridal suite and Chloe smiled. "There he is, don't run off like that again?" Rex nodded, grabbed the stuffed bear and climbed up on the couch as Abby and Kara buttoned Chloe into her gown. "Who was on the phone?" Chloe asked Lily.

"No one." Lily said quickly putting the phone down. "No big deal." 

"What?" Chloe asked suddenly, her smile fading.

"Well, it's just…" Lily looked at Rose who shook her head, which made Chloe even more curious. "The photographer." 

"What about him?" Chloe asked. 

"He had his camera equipment confiscated at the airport yesterday. He didn't want to call and freak you out because they said he could have it back today but they aren't releasing it." 

"So I have no Photographer?" Chloe asked. 

"Not right now. He's going to keep trying to convince them…"

"Call him back, tell him to go out and buy whatever he needs and put it on my bill, I don't care how much it costs, tell him to get his ass down here as soon as he can." Chloe said. 

"Sure." Lily grabbed the phone and walked out of the room. 

**11:27:34 a.m. (01:32:26 until Wedding Starts)**

Lily walked back in the room and closed the phone. "He's on his way now to pick up the equipment, he'll be here soon." 

"Good." Chloe sighed in relief. They'd finished putting the dress on her and she was starting to get anxious. 

"Hey." Bruce stuck his head in the door. "I need to see Abby for a second." Abby looked up confused and then turned to Chloe who nodded. "Wow." Bruce said standing up straight. "You look." 

"Nervous?" Chloe joked.

"Beautiful." He corrected her. "Wow." 

"Bruce?" Abby asked and he grabbed her arm and pulled her into the hall. "What's up?" Abby asked. 

"Yeah, remember last night, we were leaving the restaurant, you said you were cold, I gave you my jacket?" Abby nodded. "Do you still have it?"

"It's at the hotel." Abby said. "Why?" 

"The rings, the wedding rings, the rings that symbolize Chloe and Oliver's eternal unwavering commitment to each other, were in the pocket." 

"Oh no." Abby gasped.

"Just give me your room key." Bruce said. "Hurry before she figures out something's wrong." Abby nodded and ducked back in the room. She came back out and handed over the key. "I'll be back." Bruce said. "Just don't tell her what's happening."

"Are you kidding?" Abby said. "You want her to kill both of us? Hurry." 

"Hey." Bruce said. "What's up with the monkey?" 

"Chimpanzee." Abby said. "Don't worry about that, worry about the rings." 

**12:00:00 p.m. (01:00:00 until Wedding Starts) **

Abby kept looking out the window, waiting for Bruce's car to pull back up when her phone rang. "Hello?" She said cautiously. Chloe wasn't paying attention to her, the hairdresser was there and they were arguing over what would be best to do. "Did you find them?"

"No." Bruce said. "This place looks like a tornado went through here, there are clothes everywhere." 

"Well just look, I'm sure there's only one men's size dinner jacket there." Abby pointed out. 

"I'm looking, I don't see it, are you sure it's here?" Bruce asked. 

"Yes I'm sure." Abby said. "I was cold, you gave me your jacket and then we got in the car and…" Abby trailed off. 

"And what?" Bruce said. 

"And Lily turned on the heater, so I took the jacket off." Abby said. 

"It's in your car?" Bruce asked. "I drove across town and it's in your car in the parking lot." 

"Don't yell at me." Abby said, her voice raising. "I'm not the one who lost the rings." 

Everything froze, it was like time was standing still. Abby turned around and saw Chloe with her mouth open wide, the hair dresser even looked shocked and Rose was just shaking her head sadly. "He lost the rings?" Chloe said jumping out of the chair and yanking the phone away from Abby. "You had one job and one job only as best man and that was the rings." Chloe screamed at him. "If you don't find them…"

"I know exactly where they are." Abby interrupted. "I'll go right now." She started to back out of the room. "They're in our car. I'll be back in like five minutes." 

She opened the door with her butt and saw Lois, Lily, and Kara jump up. "Abby!" They all screamed.

"It's ok, really." Abby said, right as she backed into Isabel, who didn't see Abby because she was carrying an eight layer cake. 

Chloe didn't have time to process what was happening, it was like it was in slow motion. She dropped the phone to the ground as the top tier fell forward and landed on Abby's head. Suddenly Kara was there, next to Abby, grabbing the other end of the cake and holding it up. Time seemed to snap back and they all stood dumbfounded as Abby pulled cake out of her eyes. 

"Oh God." Lois said quietly. 

Rex was screeching and jumping on the couch. Abby walked in the room slowly, not believing what just happened and sat down next to him. He reached over and grabbed a chunk of cake out of her hair and ate it. He was about to reach for more when she turned to him and glared. Rex put his hand down and moved a little further down the couch.

"I got it." Kara assured Isabel. "It's ok, it was just the top one." She examined the cake. "No other damage." 

Chloe let out a sigh of relief and nodded slowly. "I can deal with seven layers." Chloe said. "Please, help her get that outside to the tents." Kara nodded and together she and Isabel slowly made their way out of the church.

"Let's get you cleaned up." Rose said grabbing Abby's hand and pulling her to the bathroom. 

"Lily." Chloe said softly. "Please go get the rings and call Bruce back." 

Lily nodded and walked off as Chloe turned to Lois. "I should have let you call the chimney sweep." The hair dresser lowered her back into the chair and continued working. 

**12:18:48 p.m. (0:41:12 until Wedding Starts) **

"I just checked on the tents, everything fine." Lily said walking back in the room. "I've got the rings." She held up the box. "The cake looks great, no one can tell there were supposed to be eight layers, and the flowers just got here." She held out a bucket with everyone's flowers and saw Chloe's face light up as she took in the simple bouquets of white tulips. 

"At least something's gone right." Chloe sighed in relief. "Just set them on the table." Lily nodded and put the bucket down. "How's Abby doing?" 

"Well, we got it out of my hair." Abby walked in the room wearing nothing but her slip, her hair was soaking wet. "Rose is looking for something to clean the dress; can I borrow that hair dryer?" The hair dresser nodded and Abby smiled in relief as she plugged it in. Rose came in a few minutes later with the dress and a bottle of club soda and they all grabbed a rag and started scrubbing out icing stains. After about fifteen minutes they were finally done and Abby turned the hair dryer on the dress to get rid of all the wet spots. 

Lois turned around to check on Rex and her eyes opened wide. He was perched on the edge of the table, his hand in the bucket with the flowers, or what used to be flowers. Now it was just a lot of green stems. He had had a white petal hanging out of his mouth and as Lois watched he finished chewing and swallowed, looking back to search for more. She looked over her shoulder, Chloe hadn't see anything yet. "Bad boy." She whispered to him. "You can't eat the flowers." She said as forcefully as she could in a whisper. She picked up the bucket and dripped it behind the couch.

"Lois." Chloe called. 

"Huh?" Lois turned around so quickly she made herself dizzy. "Sorry, what?"

"Can you take Rex to the bathroom?" Chloe asked. "He hasn't gone since this morning." 

"Fine." Lois smiled. "But we're going to learn to use the toilet like a big boy." She held out her hand and Rex was hesitant to take it after she scolded him but he did and they walked out of the room. 

"So." The hairdresser started packing up her things. "When did you get the monkey?"

"Chimpanzee." They all corrected her in unison and then just smiled. 

**12:30:23 p.m. (0:29:37 until Wedding Starts)**

"What are you doing?" Bart asked Oliver. He was looking out the window in the door to their room. 

"I swear, I just saw the monkey again." He tilted his head from side to side. "Coming out of the bathroom." 

"Oh yeah." Bruce said. "That's…" He trailed off as Bart bounced a balled up sock off of his head.

"Ixnay on the Onkeymay." Bart whispered and Bruce nodded.

"Huh." AC said. "Weird." He looked at Bart who shrugged so he tried to change the subject. "Maybe you should call Victor again." 

"That's a good idea." 

* * *

Lois got back from the bathroom and sat Rex on the couch. "The General's late but he swears he'll be here, I can't believe you asked him to give you away. I passed Martha on the way in too, she was already crying. She was a little confused by Rex though. He did pretty good for a first timer." Lois said almost proudly. "I think with a little practice…" she looked up and noticed that everyone was crowded around the mirror. "What's going on?"

Lily and Abby both took a step back and Lois gasped. Chloe's hair looked like a cross between a bad 80's prom do and some futuristic afro. "Oh my God." 

"We were so busy, worrying about the cake and the rings, we didn't pay attention to what she was doing." Chloe said a little strangely. "I can't get married like this, I can't take pictures like this." 

"I can fix this." Lily assured her. "Just give me a squirt bottle, a curling iron and a blow dryer, trust me." Chloe nodded numbly and sat back down as Abby went in search of those items. 

* * *

"We've got a problem." Oliver said. "He's got people here." 

"What do you mean?" AC asked. 

"Victor says, he's got people stationed all over the place here, I don't know what they're doing, or what they're planning to do but…"

"It's probably not to wish the bride a happy wedding day." Bart finished. 

"No." Oliver said. "Victor's got them all on a tracking system at Dennis' house, he says there's one pacing back and forth in front of the church, like he's waiting for something." 

"Let's go see." Bruce smiled. 

"Ok, but quietly." Oliver said. "I don't want Chloe to know…" 

"It's cool." Bart said. "We do this for a living. We can be as suave as the rest of them." 

"The rest of who?" AC asked as they walked out of the room. 

**12:40:28 p.m. (0:19:23 until Wedding Starts)**

"See it looks better already." Lily smiled at Chloe. "And I'm just getting started." 

"Thank you so much." Chloe smiled at her in the mirror. "All of you guys, I wouldn't have been able to get through the day without…" Her sentence was cut off by the sound of shattering glass. They all stared, frozen in horror as Bart flew through the stained glass window and landed in a heap on the floor. 

Chloe stood up as Bart pulled himself from the floor. "Man, that guy can throw a punch." He said to himself, then he looked around and realized where he was. "Ladies." He smiled. "Chloe…wow, I mean that, you look…hot." 

"What…" she asked looking past him out the window where Oliver was being held on a tree, two feet off the ground by a guy in a waiters uniform. Bruce ran at him from the side to take him out and the waiter swatted him away like he was nothing. Bruce flew through the air and landed on top of the limousine with such force that he shattered the back window. Clark ran towards him but the waiter didn't even budge. He shot out his free hand, grabbed Clark around the neck and threw him away, as if he was a crumpled up piece of paper.

"Oh no." Chloe said lifting up the bottom of her skirt. "Not on my wedding day. " She stomped to the door of the room and threw it open. Most of the guests had already arrived and were seated so no one knew about what was going on out front. The pianist saw her and started the wedding march, everyone stood up and turned to look but Chloe turned in the other direction and headed toward the doors that lead outside. She paused, looked at the wall and saw an old coat of arms. She reached up and pulled the sword from it before storming through the doors into the front lawn. "Not after everything I've been through to get here." She said holding the sword in one hand and her dress in the other. Kara had run out after her and was passing her up when AC screamed.

"Chloe, get out of here." AC yelled as he approached the waiter and jumped on his back. He released Oliver and turned, tossing AC halfway across the lawn, AC slammed into Kara, taking the both of them down at the same time. 

"I don't think so." She screamed and Oliver coughed on the ground. Everyone was watching from the window of the Bridal suite entranced, as the waiter turned back to Oliver and Chloe approached. "Seven dresses, three reception halls, two cakes, I've got no photographer and my hair looks like I just stepped out of a bad 80's music video." She said as she reached him, he paid no attention to her. "And I'll be damned if I let a waiter stop me from getting married." She steadied herself, lifted the sword and brought it down in an arch at his neck. 

"Chloe!" Oliver screamed as the sword made contact and sliced clean through. The waiters head fell to the ground and rolled a little before stopping. Everyone froze.

**12:58:45 p.m. (00:01:15 until Wedding Starts) **

They all stood staring in disbelief. In front of them was the now headless body of the waiter, standing straight up, it didn't collapse to the ground. The head was a few yards away, staring up at them; there was no blood, nothing. Chloe stepped forward and looked at the top of the neck and frowned. "Huh." She dropped the sword and Oliver pulled himself up to look. 

"A robot?" He said confused. There were no muscles or arteries or bones, just wires and circuitry. Suddenly realization dawned on him. He pulled out his phone and called Victor. "Victor." Oliver screamed into the phone. "They're robots." 

"Robots?" Victor asked confused.

"I remember now, what he was caught stealing, prototypes for our new Robotic security division, a project for the government that was scrapped a few years ago." 

"The guy steals twenty some robots from you and you don't remember?" Victor asked. 

"It was like seven years ago, that's not the issue, the issue is why we shut down the project, because we couldn't work out the right programming." Oliver sighed. "We couldn't get a set fix on mission parameters; they did whatever it took to get the job done." He looked around. "Whatever it took." 

"So if their job was to stop you from getting married…" Victor said. 

"They'd do it however they could." Oliver responded.

"This is not good." Chloe said as screams emanated from the church. 

**1:05:23 p.m. (-00:05:23 since Wedding should have started)**

Lois heard the people in the chapel screaming and ran out see what was going on. "Stay here." She told everyone else. She stopped dead in her tracks, there were about fifteen waiters standing around the room with guns pointed in the air. 

"There will not be a wedding today, please vacate the premises." They all said in unison.

"Creepy." She whispered to herself. When no one moved they all shot their guns into the air. 

"That was your only warning." They all droned. "There will be no wedding today, please vacate the premises." The crowd didn't have to be asked twice. Lois barely had time to move out of the way as a swarm of people ran en mass from the church. 

It took less than five minutes for them all to leave and Lois was left standing there with fifteen guns pointed at her. "You have been warned." They all said and moved forward. Lois ran to the nearest one and kicked him as hard as she could, but she crumpled to the floor, her ankle throbbing in pain. 

"What the hell are you made of?" She asked from the ground as they advanced on her. The guns were all cocked in unison and she braced herself for the inevitable when she heard the familiar screeching of Rex. She turned to see him standing in the doorway. "Rex get out of here." She called to him and he smiled at her before waving his hand in the air. All fifteen soldiers were lifted off the ground and tossed against the wall. "Holy monkey." Lois said staring at him as he clapped and jumped up and down the walked over to her, and climbed in her lap.

Chloe ran back to the church with the guys hot on her heels as soon as they heard the gun shots. Abby, Lily and Rose were the last ones out. "Are you guys ok?" 

"Yeah." Rose said as Bart led her to a safe place to sit down. "We heard gun shots and we ran." She was holding her stomach protectively. 

"Get them to safety." She said to Kara who nodded. 

"Lois went in there." Abby called out. "When she heard the screams. She hasn't come out yet." 

Chloe lifted her skirt again and ran to the building, Oliver right behind her and the others not too far behind. When they got in the chapel, Lois was huddled against the back wall. The waiter robots had gotten back up and were again advancing on her. Clark took down the two closest with his head vision and they turned their attention to him. "Get her out of here." Clark said, using the bulk of his strength now that he knew they weren't people, they were robots and he wasn't going to hurt them. 

"Victor says he thinks he can shut them down from Dennis' computer." Oliver screamed as he picked up a chair and smashed it into an approaching robot.

"Well tell him to hurry." Clark said as three jumped on him, dragging him to the ground. 

**1:12:38 p.m. (-00:12:38 since Wedding should have started) **

Chloe and Oliver sat on the steps of the church, side by side. Clark was examining Lois for the twentieth time, making sure she was ok, while everyone else just lounged around. All the guests were gone, hightailed it out of there during the fight and Abby and Lily had taken Rose back to the hotel where she'd be safer. There were twenty or so non functioning robots lying around the ground and inside of the chapel. Victor had managed to remotely shut them down and he was just now walking up to the chapel. "Man do you guys know how to party or what?" He smiled sadly. 

"I told you this wedding was cursed." Chloe said leaning her head into Oliver's shoulder.

"I can't believe some guy went to all this trouble to stop you from getting married." Bart said shaking his head. "That's a little crazy right?" They all turned to him confused. "I mean if I were gonna try and stop the wedding I'd just…I don't know fake an illness or something, then Chloe would be so worried about me, she wouldn't possibly be able to go through with the ceremony until she knew I was ok." 

"Put some thought into that did you?" Oliver smirked and Bart blushed. 

"Well, it wasn't all him, I mean some of the things that happened today, he had no control over, maybe we really are just cursed." Chloe shrugged. 

"What things?" Oliver asked. 

"Oh, the cake almost got destroyed, Bruce lost the rings," Oliver turned to Bruce. 

"I found them." He protested. 

"My hair." Chloe pointed to it.

"I wasn't going to say anything." Oliver smiled at her. 

"Did I miss anything?" Chloe asked. 

"Melanie Parker's little girl flushed all the rice down the toilet and clogged up all the plumbing because her brother told her that if birds eat rice they explode." Kara sighed. 

"Clark totaled you're car with a robot." AC smiled. 

"Accidently." Clark said wincing as he and Lois walked up.

"Is that it?" Chloe joked. 

"Rex ate all the bouquets." Lois said sitting on the steps next to Chloe. 

"Who's Rex?" Oliver asked confused. 

"He was right…" Lois turned around. "Come on, the bad guys are gone, you're safe." 

Oliver looked at Lois as a small Chimpanzee walked around, saw Chloe, split out in a grin and ran over to climb in her lap. "It's ok little man." Chloe said hugging him as he latched onto her arm with one hand, his other squeezing the stuffed bear. 

"Is that a…I knew I saw a…did you always have a monkey?" Oliver asked confused. 

"Chimpanzee." Everyone corrected him and he seemed taken back for a second.

"No, he was a wedding present." Chloe said. "From AC." 

Oliver looked at AC. "Wait a minute; I didn't get him for her." He held up his hands. "I liberated him from a testing lab, she wasn't even supposed to know about him." 

"But I do." Chloe smiled. "And I want to keep him." She tried to use her best sad voice but Oliver shook his head. 

"You can't just keep a stolen Chimp." Oliver said. "No way." 

"But, they experimented on him, it's not like we can give him back." Chloe pointed out. 

"I'm not saying that, I'm saying we find another place for him, a better place." 

"I don't really think that's gonna be possible." Lois sighed. "I was the first one trying to tell her earlier that she couldn't keep him, but new information has come to light." 

"What does that mean?" Oliver asked confused. 

Lois got up and walked over to Rex. "Can I see the bear?" Rex wouldn't let go of the bear so Lois yanked it away from him. "Just watch." She walked a few feet and then wiggled the bear in the air. "You want him back?" Lois asked. "Better take him." 

Chloe watched confused as Rex held out his hand then made a quick waving motion and the bear flew from Lois to Rex. He smiled and settled it back into his arms as he looked up at Chloe. "Did he just…" Oliver asked. 

"You sure they were testing cosmetics at that place?" Bart asked. 

"I thought that's all they were testing." AC said. 

"We can check it out later." Oliver sighed, too tired to think about it, too tired to argue. "I guess we have to keep him now don't we? We can't exactly send a monkey with meteor powers to the Star City Zoo." 

"Oh thank you." Chloe hugged him. "I promise I'll take care of him." 

"So." Oliver looked down. "You got a name kid?" 

Rex screeched and Oliver winced. "Rex." Chloe said. 

"Rex huh?" Oliver sighed. "Welcome to the family." Rex screeched again and jumped out of Chloe's lap and into Oliver's. "What is he doing?" Oliver asked a little scared. 

"He's just saying thank you." Chloe laughed as Rex climbed up Oliver's chest and planted a big wet sloppy kiss on his cheek. 

"Boy, you better make one hell of a wife." Oliver said as he wiped the slobber from his face. 

Everyone sobered up for a second, the reminder that Chloe had not gotten married like she woke up that morning to do suddenly crashed back down on them. "When do you think…" Lois let it hang in the air.

"I don't want to think about that right now." Chloe groaned. "I'm a little weddinged out." She sighed. 

"It's ok, no rush." Oliver said kissing her forehead. "Besides, I think we've got enough on our plate right now." He looked down at Rex and then back up at Chloe. 

"Can we go away for a while?" She asked. "Maybe to England? To Edwards. A few weeks of just nothing but hanging out?" 

"I think that can be arranged." Oliver assured her. "You want to go to England?" He asked Rex who nodded and jumped up and down excitedly. "Do you think he has any idea what I'm talking about?" 

"Probably not." AC smiled.

"Can we go home now?" Chloe asked yawning. 

"Yeah we can go home now." Oliver said moving Rex so he was on one side of his hip and pulled Chloe up off the steps and leaning her against the other side. "Sorry you didn't get your dream wedding." He whispered in her ear. 

"Sorry you didn't get any wedding." Chloe smiled sadly up at him. 

"It's ok, it'll happen." Oliver assured her. 

* * *

A/N: Ok, I'm evil, I promised you a wedding this chapter and I have every intention of doing that but then the storytook on a life of it's own and I promise there will be a wedding, I swear, next chapter. Don't give up on me now, we've come so far. 


	23. Chapter 23

* * *

A/N: Sorry it took so long but I got stuck on this chapter for some reason, hope you enjoy.

* * *

"No." Chloe laughed. "I've only taught him a few words." She lifted the hand holding Rex's into the air and Oliver did the same, swinging the chimp between the two of them. "He won't be able to carry on a conversation for years." She breathed in the fresh air and sighed with contentment. A vacation was a very good idea, especially coming here, she loved this house, she always felt at home in this house, and to share that with Oliver was a new experience. Chloe and Oliver had taken Rex for a walk down to the pond and she'd just finished telling Oliver how she was teaching Rex sign language.

"Years?" Oliver asked annoyed. "But I mean he's a pretty quick study. It only took him a day to get down the trash can thing, and a week to potty train him. He's smarter than you're average chimp." Oliver had a touch of pride in his voice and Chloe smiled.

"Yeah but sign language isn't that easy, for one thing I have to learn it first, for another I then have to teach it to him." Chloe lifted her hand again but Oliver wasn't paying attention and Rex ended up swinging sideways. "But he is picking it up a lot quicker than the books said he would."

"That's because he's a genius." Oliver pointed out. Rex pulled his hands out of Chloe and Oliver's and turned to Chloe. He laid his left hand flat, palm facing up in front of him and then made a fist with his right hand and set it on top of his left. "See, like that right there." Oliver smiled. "Genius." He looked confused. "What does that mean?"

"Cup." Chloe said. "He wants some water." She pulled a small sports bottle out of her bag and held it out to Rex who grabbed for it. She pulled it away and looked down at him. "What do you say?" Rex placed his right hand on his chest and made a circle motion. "Good boy." Chloe handed him the bottle. "That was Please." Rex touched his fingertips to his lips and then lowered them. "And Thank You."

"He's polite too." Oliver smiled. "I'm telling you. We're going to have the smartest chimp out of all of our friends."

"Unless we started a new trend." Chloe laughed. "We're going to have the only chimp out of all of our friends."

"Well, that's just a technicality. If everyone else got a chimp, we'd have the smartest." Rex held his bottle free hand out to Oliver who grabbed it as they started walking again. But Chloe didn't follow, she was standing still, staring up at the house. "What?"

"Nothing, it's just , why are the lights on in the guest house?" She asked confused.

"I have a better question." Oliver said. "Why did Edward build a guest house behind a two hundred and fifty room mansion?"

Chloe smiled. "Vacation home?"

"It really is like staying in your own backyard." Oliver joked.

"Hey, I'll race you back up to the house." Chloe said. "Loser has to taste some of the black pudding Raymond keeps trying to get us to eat."

"The stuff made with blood?" Oliver made a face.

"What's the matter?" Chloe teased him. "Afraid of losing?"

Oliver snorted. "Right, I'll do you one better." He grabbed Rex and pulled him onto his back, piggy back style. "I'll add more weight and still beat you."

"You're on." Chloe said getting in position. "On your mark, get set, go." They both took off, tearing up the hill toward the house screaming and laughing.

* * *

Chloe watched as Oliver flipped through the sign language book and tried to teach Rex a new word. She took another sip of her tea and hoped that this cup, her fifth would wash the taste of black pudding out of her mouth, she still couldn't believe that Oliver had beaten her, especially with the added weight of Rex on his back. As much as she wanted this vacation, as much as she needed this vacation, she had to admit she was bored out of her skull. The first week was relaxing, the second week was nice, but she was ready to do something, get back to work, anything. Rex grabbed the book from Oliver and tossed it over his head and Chloe chuckled. Her phone rang and she practically dove on it. "Hello." She said. The familiar background noise of a news room let her know it was Lois.

"Hey cuz, how goes the vacation?" Lois asked.

"Pretty…boring." Chloe sighed.

"That bad huh?" Lois smiled. "Hey, can you take this down to editing?" She called out to someone.

Chloe heard someone in the background say, "Right away, Ms. Lane."

"Not that bad, I just…I've been going at full speed for ten years now, I don't think I know how to relax."

"Of course you do." Lois admonished her. "You just relax differently than other people. You can't just drop everything and lounge around the house for a few months, that's not you. You just need a project."

"A project?" Chloe asked uncertainly.

"Yeah, something to keep you occupied but isn't going to stress you out too much."

"Actually that's not a bad idea." Chloe said. "I've been meaning to check up on some of the British publications for a while…"

"No." Lois laughed. "Not a work project a fun project."

"Oh." Chloe looked around the house confused. "Well, we're trying to teach Rex sign language."

"No, the book is not for eating." Oliver said loudly and Lois laughed.

"It's slow going." Chloe informed her.

"Oh." Lois said suddenly. "I've got a great idea, the perfect thing for you."

"I'm all ears." Chloe sighed.

"The Garden Party." Lois told her.

Chloe thought about it for a minute. "I just got finished planning the world's worst wedding, and you want me to plan another party? A serious party? How is that not going to stress me out."

"Please." Lois laughed. "You told me Ms. Reynolds took care of most of the party stuff. You'd just have to finalize things, approve stuff. Besides, you've been saying you wanted to start the tradition again, after Edward died, and you're already there."

Lois was right, Chloe had been wanting to keep Edwards traditions alive, but the past few years since his death her schedule hadn't really been conducive to throwing a summer bash. The planning would keep her occupied, but at the same time Ms. Reynolds would probably take care of most of the minor details, which would leave Chloe free to relax and spend time with Oliver and Rex.

"You may be onto something here Lois."

Of course I am, this is me you're talking to here." Lois said. "Just think about it, I think it would be good for you."

"Maybe I'll go talk to Ms. Reynolds." Chloe thought out loud. "Talk it over with her, figure out how hard it would be to do it on such short notice."

"That's the spirit." Lois said. "Look, I gotta go, they screwed up my copy again, I'll call you later ok?"

"Ok." Chloe smiled. "And thanks."

"That's what I'm here for." Lois said before hanging up.

Chloe set the phone down on the side table as Rex walked her way and climbed into her lap and laid his head down. "Oh, I think it's time for someone's nap." Chloe said hugging him to her.

"That's why he's being so difficult." Oliver dropped the book on the coffee table and sat down next to them. "Who was that on the phone?"

"Lois." Chloe smiled. "She suggested that maybe I should have the Garden Party this year."

"That's actually a good idea." Oliver smiled and put his arm around her shoulder. "It'll give you something to do."

"Is it that obvious that I'm bored out of my mind?" Chloe leaned her head on his shoulder.

"I don't take it personally." Oliver smiled and stroked her hair. "It's just the type of person you are. I have a feeling I'm going to have to trick you into retirement."

"Like you're going to go quietly." Chloe scoffed.

"You're probably right." Oliver smiled. "But the party sounds like it could be fun. We could introduce Rex to the world, have some good food, and spend some time with our friends."

"Maybe I'll talk to Ms. Reynolds." Chloe said standing up and pulling Rex with her. "After I put this little guy down."

"I'll do it." Oliver grabbed Rex from Chloe, who was so tired he didn't even notice.

"Thanks." Chloe smiled up at him and kissed him softly.

"Maybe when you're done talking to her, you could meet me in the room for our own little afternoon nap." He waggled his eyebrows.

"Why Mr. Queen, are you trying to seduce me?" Chloe chuckled.

"Is it working?" He asked.

"It would go a lot better without a snoring chimp in your arms, but it's still pretty effective." Chloe said.

"So, can I expect to see you in say thirty minutes?" He asked.

"I'll be there." Chloe assured him. "With bells on."

"Oh." Oliver said backing up to head to the stairs. "We haven't played that game before."

Chloe laughed and tossed a pillow at him as he brought Rex to his room.

Ms. Reynolds was more than open to the idea of having the Garden Party. She was practically beaming by the time Chloe had finished saying why she thought it was time to restart the tradition and promised she'd get on it right away. Chloe felt good about her decision as she walked up to her room, ready to meet Oliver for their afternoon rendezvous. Only when she got in the room, she didn't find the romantic seduction scene she was expecting; instead she found Oliver passed out on the bed, Rex sitting a few feet away in his play pin staring at the door. He jumped up when Chloe walked in and cried to be picked up. She put her finger to her lips to quiet him as Oliver stirred. "You've got to take a nap little man." Chloe said smiling down at him as he rubbed his eyes. "Oh, I see." She reached down on the floor next to the play pin and picked up his teddy bear. He reached out for it and as soon as he grabbed it, he laid himself down and closed his eyes. Chloe smiled fondly at him before kicking off her shoes and crawling in the bed next to Oliver.

* * *

The next few days were a flurry of excitement, the rush of planning the Garden Party at such a hurried pace had everyone in the house a little on edge, and Chloe couldn't be happier about it. Where normally things would have been done months in advance they had a week to get everything ready for Saturday. Chloe did feel a little bad, it seemed all the preparation and extra work was making most of the staff a little loopy. "Isn't this a little formal for a Garden Party?" Chloe asked surveying the place settings Ms. Reynolds had set up for her to approve. "We don't normally have the sit down dinner until afterwards."

Ms. Reynolds flipped a page in her clipboard. "And sign here." Chloe grabbed the pen and signed her name. "And here." Ms. Reynolds flipped another page and Chloe signed absentmindedly. "Yes, but the party is starting much later than normal so I figured we'd have the dinner outside, it's beautiful weather right now." Ms. Reynolds told Chloe, putting the clipboard down.

"Besides, we figured you want a sit down dinner what with the…" Bridget was cut off as Ginny stepped on her foot as she made her way around the table, straightening silverware.

"Oh dear." Ginny said. "I'm so sorry."

"It's ok." Bridget smiled slightly.

"With the what?" Chloe asked confused.

"With the menu dear." Ms. Reynolds jumped in. "You were always a bit more extravagant than Edward when it came to food."

"That's true." Chloe said looking between the three different tables again and trying to find one that she felt fit the occasion. "That one's still too formal." She said pointing to the black and white themed table. "It feels like a charity benefit." She looked between her other two options. She walked around them slowly and then smiled as she ran her fingers over one of the place settings. "This one." She looked up at Ms. Reynolds. "It's very…whimsical." She looked back down at the butterfly and vine patterned plates and green, blue, and yellow glasses and candle holders. The floral centerpiece looked like a bouquet of wildflowers, although they were probably extremely expensive. "Very Garden."

"Good choice dear." Ms. Reynolds smiled and nodded at the two maids who began to pack up the other two tables. Just as they'd pulled the last of the dishes off of the black and white themed table, Chloe noticed the table cloth start to inch slowly to the floor.

"Flowers." Chloe said suddenly.

"Yes, we've got the flowers on order, unless there's something you wanted to change about the arrangement." Ms. Reynolds asked.

"No." Chloe took two quick steps to the black and white table. "Flowers." She said but before she got there, the flowers were in Ms. Reynolds hands, just as the table cloth was pulled completely off the table, sending flatware and place holders crashing to the floor. Chloe walked around to the other side to see Rex sitting on the floor, he was covering himself with the table cloth and pulling it back, just enough so he could peek out from under it.

"Rex." Chloe said bending down to pick him up. "I'm so sorry." Chloe said as Ginny and Bridget started to pick up the mess.

"I heard a crash I figured…" Oliver walked in to the room, obviously out of breath and a little on edge. "He didn't break anything did he?"

"No." Chloe said trying to untangle him from the table cloth but he kept pulling it back over his head. "What is he doing?" She asked when she found herself in a tug of war with him.

"I taught him hide and go seek." Oliver smiled sheepishly. "He really likes the hiding part."

"I can see that." Chloe laughed as she got the last bit of cloth off of him and he started pouting.

"Mr. Queen." One of the guards came in. "There is a Mr. Roberts here to see you?"

Chloe looked at Oliver confused. "Just Eric, he's got some papers for me to sign, no rest for the wicked." Oliver smiled.

Rex pulled on Chloe's arm. "We can play in a little bit, but first I have to go talk to Raymond about the menu for the party. You want to come with me?" Rex responded by wrapping his arms around Chloe's neck and she walked off toward the kitchens.

"I'm really sorry." Oliver said stepping over the mess of forks and knives that littered the floor as he made his way to the front room. "Eric, good to see you again."

"Sorry to bother you on vacation." Eric handed him a file folder. "We really had to get this stuff out today."

"It's no problem, I was sorry you had to come all the way out here." Oliver said signing page after page in a rush. "You coming to the party Saturday?"

"Got my invitation this morning." Eric smiled taking the folder back. "Thanks."

"No sweat, have a nice day." Oliver smiled as he left.

Chloe was headed to the kitchen when she was intercepted by Simon. "Hey." She smiled.

"Hey." He said glancing over his shoulder. "I heard a crash."

"Oh, just the little guy." Chloe said rubbing Rex's head affectionately. "He's getting into everything, no damage though."

"Good." Simon smiled. "That's…" He seemed nervous.

"Is something wrong?" Chloe asked moving Rex from one hip to the other.

"No." Simon said to brightly. "No, no, nothing's wrong, everything…great." He looked over at Rex who was making faces. "I just…"

"You just…." Chloe prompted him.

"I have this thing with…you know…monkeys." He said suddenly.

"Monkeys?" Chloe asked confused.

"Yeah, I had a bad…zoo, field trip experience when I was a kid." Simon explained. "It involves a dare and a monkey cage and…I don't really like to talk about it." He shook his head.

"Well." Chloe smiled. "Rex isn't a monkey, he's a chimp. And he's a sweet chimp. Go on, he won't bite." Chloe said. "You didn't get bit did you?"

"No." Simon shook his head. "Nothing like that, it was just a little traumatic." Simon tentatively reached out a hand rubbed Rex's head who smiled in delight.

"There, not so bad huh?" Chloe smiled. "I've got to go talk to Raymond, but I'll see you later."

"Sure." Simon said smiling at Chloe and then glancing sheepishly at Rex as Chloe walked into the kitchen.

"Raymond, you in here?" She called out. It was unusually empty for this time of day, normally he'd be started on dinner already.

"In the pantry." Raymond screamed out to her.

Chloe opened the door to what any other normal person would have called another room but what Edward had referred to as the pantry. There were shelves stocked with anything imaginable but this is where the industrial freezer and fridge were located, not to mention three or four prep stations and dishwashing area. Raymond was leaning over the middle table flipping casually through a notepad when Chloe walked in. "Is dinner going to be late today?"

"Huh?" Raymond looked up startled. "What? Oh, a little." He smiled sheepishly. "I was just going over the menu for the party. It's so last minute I want to make sure I have everything right."

"That's what I came to see you about. I wanted to get a finalized menu from you." Chloe said as she set Rex on the counter top. He immediately climbed down and started to wander around the room.

"Well I can get the lobster no problem." Raymond said going down his list. "Now I can do a chilled cucumber honeydew soup, it's great."

"Perfect." Chloe smiled.

"I was thinking lamb for the main course." Raymond said. "Maybe grilled I'm still playing around with it and then desert you'll have to order." He smiled. "I don't do pastry."

"Sounds good, let Ms. R know you're going with a soup so she can be sure to get the bowls."

"Will do." Raymond smiled at her.

"Rex." Chloe looked around the room. "Where did he go." She walked around to the other side of the table and saw him halfway hidden behind a curtain on one of the prep stations. "Rex." She said exasperated. "Come on, come out from behind there." She looked up at Raymond who looked a little freaked. "Sorry, apparently Oliver taught him hide and go seek earlier and he's been trying to hide ever since. Come on." Chloe started to walk towards Rex but he suddenly turned around and crawled out from under the table. "That's a good boy. Let's go play upstairs." He took Chloe's hand and they left the kitchen.

* * *

The day before the garden party something seemed strange. "I don't remember it being this hectic." Chloe said to Lois who even seemed more buys that usual. It seemed every time she called her lately she was at the Daily Planet.

"Well, it was sort of last minute." Lois reminded her.

"True." Chloe sighed. "I just feel like I'm in the middle of a tornado and no one will let me help."

"They're just doing their jobs right?" Lois asked. "Look, I'm really sorry Chlo, but I'm swamped here, I'll call you back ok?"

"Sure." Chloe sighed and hung up the phone. She looked out the doorway of the sun room; everyone was running around like chickens with their heads chopped off. It was an organized chaos at least. Ms. Reynolds had seen to that, but Chloe was getting a little annoyed that no one was letting her do anything.

"Bridget." Chloe called, stopping the girl in her tracks and causing her to drop the armload of fabric she was carrying.

"Yes Miss Sullivan?" Bridget said glancing around nervously as she bent to pick up the fabric. She'd been doing that a lot lately, every time Chloe talked to her she seemed like she was hiding something.

"Are you ok?" Chloe asked helping her.

"Just fine mum." Bridget laughed, but it seemed forced.

"I'm not working you guys to hard am I?" Chloe tried to look the girl in her eyes but she was being cagey.

"Oh, no, of course not mum." Bridget gathered all the fabric and stood up. "Did you need something?"

"I just…wondered if there was anything I could do to help." Chloe shrugged.

"Oh, there's no need for that. We've got everything under control." She smiled. "Don't worry." Bridget started to walk off.

"Bridget." Chloe called and tilted her head. "Are you sure everything's ok?"

She turned around and looked at Chloe; she seemed like a deer frozen in headlights. "Everything's fine." She nodded before scurrying away.

"There's something rotten in the state of Denmark." Chloe said to herself, vowing that she would get to the bottom of this. There was a possibility that something had gone terribly wrong with the party and after the disaster that should have been her wedding, the staff was just trying to spare her. She paced for a few minutes before deciding to go to the source. If something was happening in her house, Simon would know about it.

Chloe made her way through the hallways until she got to the security room. "Miss Sullivan." Charles, one of the guards slipped out of the door and closed it behind him before Chloe could walk in. "Is there something I can help you with?" Chloe looked at him critically. "I saw you coming on the monitor's ma'am." He blushed.

She opened her mouth to say something then shook her head; she didn't want to tip her hand too early. "I just thought I come by, check up, make sure everything was running smoothly for the party." She tried to smile cheerfully.

"Everything's great." He smiled at her.

"Do you mind if I have a look see?" Chloe asked reaching for the door knob.

"Actually ma'am." He blocked her hand. "We're running a diagnostic just now. All the monitors are down."

"I thought you said you saw me coming on the monitors." Chloe asked him, raising her eyebrow.

"Well, yes, and then they went down." Charles said. "Should be back up in an hour or two."

Chloe could feel something, nagging at the back of her mind but she decided to play along for now. "Ok." She said stepping back. "Well then I'll just come back later." She turned around and walked down the hall and could have sworn that she heard him say, "all clear".

* * *

"There's something going on." Chloe was pacing back and forth at the foot of her bed. Oliver was sitting at the desk doing some work on his computer.

"What do you mean?" He asked, not really paying attention.

"The staff is dodging me." Chloe told him. "They aren't answering any questions, but they're doing it well. And every time I see Bridget she looks like she's about to jump out of her skin."

"Huh." Oliver said and turned around. "What now?" He almost had to laugh at the sight. Chloe was walking back and forth, from one end of the room to the other with one arm crossed over her chest and the other one held on her chin. Right behind her was Rex, imitating her stance and following in her footsteps.

Chloe stopped and glared at Oliver and Rex slammed into the back of her legs. Chloe sighed and picked him up. "Haven't you been listening to me?"

"Sure, the staff is dodgy and Bridget is jumping around not answering questions." Oliver said, but realized as soon as the words were out of his mouth that they made no sense, obviously he hadn't been paying as close attention as he thought.

"They're hiding something from me." Chloe said. "Something big."

"What? Where is this coming from?" Oliver chuckled at her.

"They won't let me help with anything." She said exasperated. "If I walk into a room, they stop talking, and I think that security is following me around the house."

"Ok." Oliver stood up. "You are insane."

"Oliver." Chloe screeched and stood up.

"You have been cooped up in this house for three weeks now. You need to get out. You need to relax. I have an idea." He grabbed her shoulders and rubbed them lightly. "Why don't you call Abby, and Lily, and Rose and go to the spa, have a massage, relax before the party."

Chloe groaned. "What about Rex?"

"I'll take care of Rex." Oliver assured her. "You go have some fun."

"You'll be ok?" Chloe asked as she pulled out her phone.

"I'll be great." Oliver took Rex from her. "We'll be great."

"Fine." Chloe said. "I'll do this, but I'll have my cell phone so call me if you need anything, or if something goes wrong or…"

"We'll be fine." Oliver assured her.

* * *

Chloe sat back in the chair and had to admit to herself, every now and then, she liked to be pampered. She was sitting in the "Relaxation Room" of the spa having just had a full body massage, a facial, manicure and pedicure, and something called and herbal skin treatment. "I'm so glad you called."

"I know." Chloe sighed. "I just really needed to hide away for a while, forget about…well you know."

"That's totally like my best story ever." Lily smiled. "Do you have any idea how many people called me wanting to know what really went down at the Queen Sullivan wedding. I don't think I'd ever been that popular."

"I'm glad I could help." Chloe laughed as Rose slapped Lily on her arm. She looked out at the amazing view of the Thames and smiled, she actually felt relaxed for the first time in weeks.

"I didn't mean it like that." Lily said rubbing her arm. "Did you get stronger when you got pregnant?" Lily asked Rose.

"Can we just stay here forever?" Chloe asked.

"Well, probably but it would involve a lot of paper work." Abby smiled.

Chloe groaned and closed her eyes. "Fine, ten more minutes and then I have to get back." She yawned. "I left Oliver alone at the house with Rex."

"I still can't believe he let you kept that Chimp." Abby rolled her eyes.

"Yeah well I'm afraid if I leave him alone with Oliver for much longer, he might change his mind." Chloe joked. The girls reluctantly took their leave of the spa a few minutes later and decided to go somewhere for lunch. As they were standing in the deserted street trying to figure out where to go, something caught Chloe's eye, something familiar. She turned her head and looked closely at the edge of the River but there was no one there.

"Chloe…how does Italian sound?" Rose asked.

"Great, but something fast ok?" She smiled and followed them down the street.

* * *

By the time she got back to the house she was the epitome of relaxation. "Honey, I'm home." She called as she walked in the door, then immediately slid halfway across the entryway and fell on her back. "What the hell?" She looked around confused and noticed that the floor was soaking wet.

"Chloe?" Oliver called from the steps. "Are you ok?"

"I slipped." Chloe said cautiously pulling herself up. "There's water all over the place." She carefully walked to a dry patch of the floor.

"But you're ok?"

"Fine." She assured him. "I need to get this cleaned up before someone really gets hurt."

"I'll do that, you go change." Oliver told her. As soon as he said it she could feel that her entire back side was soaked straight through. Chloe nodded and walked dumbly up the stairs as Oliver called out to one of the guards at the door to get someone with a mop. So much for total relaxation.

She walked in her room and smiled when she saw Rex standing up in his crib staring at her. "Hey little man." She said and he made the sign for cup. "Just let me change and I'll be right with you." She came down the steps a little while later carrying Rex as three maids swiftly and effectively mopped up the floor. "Where did the water come from though?" Chloe asked Oliver who was "supervising". "Did you figure it out?"

"Oh, I can do you one better, how about in one fell swoop I solve the mystery of the wet floor and the mystery of the strange employees."

"I'd be very impressed if you did that." Chloe smiled as he tossed his arm over her shoulder.

"Well it's very simple really." Oliver smiled at her. "Elementary my dear Watson as the great late Sherlock Holmes would say."

"Would Sherlock Holmes tell me the answer any time soon?" Chloe joked with him.

"Right." Oliver said. "You see what happened was, the ice sculpture was delivered a day to early, they didn't want to tell you because they didn't want you to freak out. They've been moving it around, all day, hiding it from you until the sculptor could get his freezer truck here to pick it up. It sat in the entry hall a little too long while you were gone and…melted ice sculpture equals puddle of water." He took a bow. "Thank you, thank you very much."

"So that's why they wouldn't let me in the Security room earlier?" Chloe asked. "So I didn't see them moving around a giant ice sculpture on the monitors."

"And why Bridget's been so jumpy, she hates lying to you." Oliver said.

"Good work Sherlock." Chloe smiled at him.

"Can you relax now?" Oliver asked.

"I can't promise you anything, but I'll try my hardest." Chloe laughed as Rex made the sign for cup again. "Alright, I'm going." Chloe told him as they walked into the kitchen, but she couldn't help feeling that something still wasn't right.

* * *

The day of the Garden Party Chloe's eyes flew open at four o'clock, she was wide awake and freaking out. She had this feeling in the pit of her stomach, just like the one she'd had before her first ever Garden Party at Edwards. Partly because she realized this technically was her first Garden party. This was the first one that she'd planned, that she'd thrown, this was yet another coming out party for Chloe Sullivan. Sure she'd proven herself capable of taking over Edwards duty as far as the company was concerned, but after the debacle of her wedding, this party would show everyone whether or not she could cut it as far as social events were concerned. Edward was great at stuff like this. The one thing Chloe ever planned herself ended with murderous robots scaring away all the guests. She leaned over the side of the bed and grabbed her phone, she dialed Lois' number and waited impatiently for her to answer. "Hello." She said groggily and Chloe looked at the phone confused.

"Are you sleeping?" Chloe asked.

"Of course I'm sleeping are you retarded?" Lois replied.

"It's only nine p.m. there." Chloe told her.

"Who is this?" Lois asked confused.

"Chloe."

"Oh." Lois suddenly seemed more awake. "Sorry, it was a long day, I guess I dozed off. What's up, it's…holy crap it's 4 a.m.?"

"Yeah." Chloe said getting out of bed and pacing. "Look, I'm thinking this wasn't such a great idea."

"Getting up at four in the morning is never a great idea." Lois sighed.

"No, I mean the party." Chloe said. "What if I screw it all up? This was Edward's party, this is what he was known for, I can't do this."

"Oh yes you can, we didn't come all this way for you to back out at the last minute." Lois said. "You need to take a deep breath and put on your big girl panties, you can't control everything, and whatever happens is going to happen. You are a grown woman Chloe, you can do this, you know you can do this, and I know you can do this, so just go out there and prove to everyone else that you can do this. Now if you don't mind, I'm freaking exhausted." Lois hung up the phone and Chloe glared at it for a while, not really sure what to say to something like that.

"Well." She said after she took a deep breath. "I actually feel better now." She put the phone on the side table and walked into the bathroom to take a nice bath. By the time she was out, she was feeling even more relaxed and when she looked at the clock she realized an hour had gone by. Oliver was sitting up in the bed rubbing his eyes as Rex sat next to him playing with one of his toys. "Sorry." Chloe wrapped the towel tighter around her. "Did he wake you up?"

"Only a little." Oliver smiled. "You seem to be in an extremely good mood for this early in the morning." Oliver gave her a kiss.

"I am." Chloe said. "I don't know how to explain it really, but I think today's going to be a really good day."

Oliver froze. "Uh oh." He said. "Do I need to go get the salt? You want to maybe knock on some wood? Spin around a few times?"

"No." Chloe shook her head. "I think I'm going to go make some breakfast." She looked at her watch. "There is no way Raymond's up this early even with the party, so I'll have the kitchen all to myself." She grabbed some sweats and a t-shirt. "Want me to bring you something up?"

"Sure." Oliver smiled. "Whatever you're having."

Rex screeched at Chloe and she smiled. "And a fruit cup for the gentleman." She said as she walked out of the door.

Cooking breakfast made her feel even better if that was possible, while she'd been in London, she hadn't cooked once, she hadn't even made a sandwich for three weeks and she'd forgotten how much it relaxed her. According to Ms. Reynolds, who she'd run into on her way back up stairs with the breakfast tray, everything was running on time and on schedule and there was absolutely nothing to worry about, so Chloe didn't, worry that is. She ate breakfast with Oliver and Rex, they played for a little while, they tried to go outside and watch the workers set up the tables and hang the lights but Rex was getting into everything so very apologetically they went back up to their bedroom and closed themselves off from the rest of the world.

Chloe didn't even realize how long they'd been up there until Bridget knocked on the door and handed Chloe a garment bag. "You're dress mum. The guests will be arriving shortly, will you be needing any help getting ready?"

"Oh." Chloe said surprised. "No thanks. We'll be right down."

"I should probably hit the showers." Oliver said. "You got him?" He gestured to Rex who was occupying himself with one of Chloe's old shoes.

"Yeah, we're good." Chloe said hanging up the bag on the rack in her closet. "Rex, come in here where I can see you."

He obeyed and sat down, immediately searching the lower drawers for something to play with when he found Chloe's stash of pantyhose. It was like Christmas morning. She put on her makeup and did her hair as he got himself more and more tangled in the hosiery. Oliver got out of the shower and dressed quick enough to get Rex untangled so Chloe could get dressed herself. She opened the garment bag and frowned for a second, this wasn't the dress she'd sent to the dry cleaners, this wasn't the dress she'd picked out for the party. This was her favorite blue dress, it was still sort of summery but a little formal for a backyard garden party. Then Chloe remembered what Ms. Reynolds said when they were picking out the place settings, this party would be a little more formal that Edward had. She shrugged and pulled it on. It took her a while to find the right shoes and then she walked over to her jewelry cabinet and opened her necklace area. She was looking for the necklace that Oliver had given her, the apple, she was a little tired when she put it away the night before so she had to search for it when something caught her eye. She reached in and picked it up smiling. It was the flower necklace, the one Edward had given her to wear all those years ago to her first garden party, and as much as she loved her apple necklace, somehow this seemed a bit more appropriate. "Let me." Oliver said coming up behind her and fastening the necklace. "We're ready to go, I even managed to get Rex to sit still long enough to let me brush his hair."

Chloe turned around and smiled, Rex did actually look a little better. "You're so handsome." Chloe smiled and picked him up.

"What am I? Chopped liver?" Oliver asked offended. He held his hands out and did a little twirl for her. She felt her heart skip a beat and was amazed that after all this time he still managed to take her breath away. Even dressed casually in jeans and loose collared shirt, he was still by far the most handsome man she'd ever met. "You are handsome too." She said quietly as she leaned up to kiss him. When she pulled away she frowned a little. "So I don't get a compliment?"

"Let's see." Oliver said pretending to study her intently. Chloe set Rex on the bed and stood still as he walked around her, mumbling things under his breath. "Well…I don't know." He said finally. "I think something's missing." He nodded to Rex who grabbed a small green box out from under the pillow on the bed and handed it to Chloe. "We've been working on that all week." Oliver said excited. Chloe laughed as she took the box from Rex and opened it up. Sitting inside was a small platinum charm of a bouquet of tulips. "For your first Garden Party."

"It's perfect." Chloe said pulling him in for another kiss as there was a knock on the door.

"Guests are arriving mum." A voice said through the door.

"Coming." Chloe took a deep breath to keep from crying as she attached the new charm to her bracelet. "You ready?" She asked Oliver who nodded and grabbed Rex's hand.

When Chloe walked into the backyard she literally had to stop to keep from falling over. The tables were artfully arranged, the decorations were stylish yet whimsical, it was perfect. "Beautiful." Chloe whispered.

"I don't know, a little too posh for my taste." Chloe turned her head slowly, not believing her ears and then she smiled. "Champagne?" Lois asked holding out a glass to Chloe.

"Lois." Chloe squealed. She ignored the glass and lunged at her cousin, hugging her so tight that Lois gasped.

"Hey watch the drinks." Lois laughed. "This is one of my nicer dresses."

Chloe pulled back laughing and only then did she notice everything else, or should she say, everyone else. Bart and AC were leaning against the bar, smiles on their faces. Clark was standing a little ways back from Lois with Kara and Victor at his side. Bruce was standing near the door with someone else that looked familiar. "Ms. Kent?" Chloe asked confused, trying her hardest not to cry in front of all these people.

"Can we get this show on the road please?" A gruff voice asked from her other side and Chloe turned quickly, unable to stop the tears from falling this time.

"General?" She said quietly before she grabbed the man into a hug. "What are you doing here?" Chloe pulled back. "What's going on?"

"Well." Lois set the two glasses of champagne down. "We have a little confession to make. This isn't exactly just a garden party."

"What?" Chloe looked around to Oliver who looked just as confused as she did. "What are you talking about?"

**

* * *

**

One Week Ago…

Lois sat down at the large table and grabbed one of the cookies from the platter in the middle. "Whose bright idea was it for us to meet here?" She looked around the room, it was nice, it was cozy, but it was dangerous. "I mean do the words secret, covert, undercover mean anything to you guys? Anything at all, do you need a dictionary? I can wait." She looked around the table and Bart zoomed to the seat next to her and threw his arm around her shoulder.

"Come on, the danger of it all is part of the fun." Bart tried to convince her. "Admit it, you think it's a little sexy." He waggled his eyebrows and she groaned as she slipped out from under his arm.

"Back off short stack." She glared at him.

"Hey!" Bart threw his hands up. "Chloe's going to be a married woman pretty soon, I figure it's time to set my sights on her decidedly more unattached, yet no less beautiful cousin."

"Decidedly unattached?" AC snorted. "You've met her boyfriend? Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive…"

"Able to stop pervy midgets with a single glare." Lois added.

"You're not married yet." Bart smiled, unfazed by the prospect of incurring Clark's wrath.

"Can we get down to business please?" Bruce asked from the other end of the table.

"Right so first things first…" Lois started the meeting.

"We should have a name." Bart interrupted her. "Something cool to go along with our mission statement."

"We have a mission statement?" Victor asked.

"You know, whatever." Bart shrugged.

"Actually that's not a bad idea." AC leaned back in his seat. "We could be the Coalition for Harmonious Matrimony."

"Wow." Victor said chuckling. "That was pretty lame."

"You can do better?" AC challenged him.

"In my sleep." Victor scoffed. They all looked at him anxiously waiting to bask in his genius. "Well, I'm not sleeping now." He defended himself.

"I got one." Bart said. "How about Wedding Warriors."

"Yeah." Victor sat up straighter. "What he said." He pointed to Bart.

"Wedding Warriors?" AC laughed. "And that's not lame?"

"Not as lame as the Coalition for Lamey Lameness that you came up with." Bart scoffed.

"Ok." Bruce slammed his hands on the table. "I hear the word lame one more time, and you three are going to understand the true meaning of the word."

Victor and AC both sat back in their seats and Bart looked confused. Victor rolled his eyes and leaned closer to him. "It means disabled, paralyzed."

"Right, sure thing boss." Bart smiled at Bruce.

"Ok, so let's get started." Lois smiled.

"Aren't we going to wait for Clark? And Kara?" AC asked.

"I can give them the cliff notes later." Lois brushed him off. "They probably won't be much help anyway, they're both pretty busy."

"But what if we need them for something important." AC protested.

"You mean what if you need Kara for something important." Bart scoffed. "Like drooling over her."

"Or staring at her." Victor smiled.

"Or daydreaming about her." Bart added.

Lois turned to AC who was blushing profusely. "You have a thing for Kara?"

"It's not a thing." AC said straightening his shoulders. "Don't cheapen it."

"How is this the greatest superhero team in the world?" Bruce asked no one in particular. "It's a wonder they ever get anything accomplished." He coughed. "Could we get to the point of this meeting at some time today?"

"Right." Lois shook her head. "But we're talking after the meeting." She said pointedly to AC. "So the meeting. Everyone at this table knows that Oliver and Chloe, while two of the most powerful and respected business minds and superheroes in the world, are completely and utterly hopeless when it comes to normal stuff."

"Like getting married." Victor added.

"Exactly." Lois smiled. "If we left it up to them, it would never happen." She smiled. "I love both of them and sure, they could plan and execute a covert infiltration and extraction mission that would make the General weep with jealousy, but a Wedding?"

"So what is the plan exactly?" Bruce asked.

"Well I'm glad you asked." Lois smiled and started at the beginning. Bruce was having serious doubts in the plan, basically from the moment of conception, it was now painfully obvious to him that either Chloe or Oliver or both had to be responsible for any plan the JLA cooked up because Lex would have had all these guys in 33.1 ten years ago with the stuff they were coming up with.

"So let me get this straight?" He rubbed his temples. "We are going to plan a secret wedding, get all their family and friends here, get the entire staff in on it, and somehow get Oliver and Chloe to it, without them finding out anything?" Bruce looked around the table. They were all nodding. He got up and walked to the window. "And we're going to be doing all of this from literally right under their noses?" He moved the curtain aside and stared onto the back yard of Edward's house. He could see Chloe and Oliver about a half a mile away, Rex swinging in between them as they walked along the edge of the pond.

Bruce moved away from the window. "What the hell." He sighed. "I'm in." He looked around at everyone. "But there are going to have to be some changes."

"We're open to suggestions." Lois said to him.

"Hey." Bart said. "We need a name."

"We have a name." Lois pointed out. "Wedding Warriors or whatever the hell it was."

"No, that's our name." Bart said. "We need a name for the Mission. Like Operation Undercover Nuptials."

"Will that shut you up so we can move on?" Bruce asked.

"Yeah." Bart nodded.

"Fine." Bruce sighed. "First things first. That was the dumbest plan in the history of planning things."

"You have a better idea?" Lois raised her eyebrows.

"Two words." Bruce smiled. "Garden Party."

Lois slowly smiled. Edwards Annual Garden Party. Chloe hadn't done it in years, not since the last one, when Edward was still alive, but Lois knew that she wanted to keep the tradition alive, that she knew Edward would want her to keep the tradition alive. It really was the perfect plan. "So where do we start?"

**

* * *

**

Operation Undercover Nuptials

**Phase One:**

**Entice Watchtower **

**(Convince Chloe to have Garden Party)**

"Ok, so I'll call Chloe, try and convince her to throw the party." Lois said. "It'll be a piece of cake." She pulled out her cell phone and Bruce grabbed her arm.

"It's the middle of the day in America." He reminded her. "You're supposed to be at work."

"Got it covered." Lois said turning and grabbing a small radio. "Sounds of the Daily Planet." She smiled pushing play and the room was filled with a cacophony of noise, phones ringing, people shouting, printers whirring, typing and more. Bruce looked at the radio dubiously. "Don't worry." Lois told him as she dialed Chloe's number.

"Hello." Chloe answered.

"Hey cuz, how goes the vacation?" Lois asked.

"Pretty…boring." Chloe sighed.

"That bad huh?" Lois smiled. "Hey, can you take this down to editing?" She said to Bruce who rolled his eyes at her. She glared and he sighed.

"Right away Ms. Lane." He called out and Lois smiled.

"Not that bad, I just…I've been going at full speed for ten years now, I don't think I know how to relax." Chloe told Lois

"Of course you do." Lois admonished her. "You just relax differently than other people. You can't just drop everything and lounge around the house for a few months, that's not you. You just need a project."

"A project?" Chloe asked uncertainly.

"Yeah, something to keep you occupied but isn't going to stress you out too much."

"Actually that's not a bad idea." Chloe said. "I've been meaning to check up on some of the British publications for a while…"

"No." Lois laughed. "Not a work project a fun project."

"Oh." Chloe said. "Well, we're trying to teach Rex sign language."

"No, the book is not for eating." Lois heard Oliver scream.

"It's slow going." Chloe informed her. Bruce was tapping a pen on a notepad where he had written GARDEN PARTY with no fewer than five exclamation points and six underlines. She waved him away.

"Oh." Lois said suddenly. "I've got a great idea, the perfect thing for you."

"I'm all ears." Chloe sighed.

"The Garden Party." Lois told her.

"I just got finished planning the world's worst wedding, and you want me to plan another party? A serious party? How is that not going to stress me out." Chloe asked.

"Please." Lois laughed. "You told me Ms. Reynolds took care of most of the party stuff. You'd just have to finalize things, approve stuff. Besides, you've been saying you wanted to start the tradition again, after Edward died, and you're already there." Bart kept leaning closer trying to listen and Lois pushed him away.

"You may be onto something here Lois." Chloe said.

Of course I am, this is me you're talking to here." Lois said. "Just think about it, I think it would be good for you." Lois gave everyone a thumbs up.

"Maybe I'll go talk to Ms. Reynolds." Chloe thought out loud. "Talk it over with her, figure out how hard it would be to do it on such short notice."

"That's the spirit." Lois said shoving Bart away again as he and AC fought over who got to listen in on the phone conversation. "Look, I gotta go, they screwed up my copy again, I'll call you later ok?" Lois glared at the boys.

"Ok." Chloe sighed. "And thanks."

"That's what I'm here for." Lois said before hanging up. "She's in." Lois looked at the assembled group.

"She said she'd think about it." Bruce contradicted her.

"Yeah, that's what she said but she was already planning it in her head. Trust me, I know Chloe." Lois told him.

Bruce had to trust her, there wasn't much else he could do at this point, and there was no turning back now.

**

* * *

**

Operation Undercover Nuptials

**Phase Two:**

**Persuade Allies**

**(Get staff on board)**

"Told you." Lois said smiling as they stood in Ms. Reynolds office. She was a little surprised to see Lois and Bruce waiting for her when she got in, and even more surprised that they were asking about the garden party.

"She just talked to me about it not an hour ago….what are you two doing here?" Ms. Reynolds asked confused. "Ms. Sullivan didn't tell me you were here."

"Miss Sullivan doesn't know." Bruce smiled.

"See, we've got a plan." Lois smiled. "We, that is to say, I convinced Chloe to have the Garden Party, not that it took much convincing."

"Why exactly did you do that?" Ms. Reynolds asked.

"Because she needs to get married." Lois informed the older woman. "And if we leave it up to her, it'll take years."

"That is quite possibly true." Ms. Reynolds said cautiously. "I still don't…"

"We were thinking." Lois turned to Bruce for support. "That we'd turn the Garden Party into a sort of…surprise wedding."

Ms. Reynolds looked between Bruce and Chloe, the sever expression on her face making Lois rethink the whole plan. "That's actually a good idea." She said finally and Lois let out a sigh of relief. "What exactly would this entail?"

"Not much." Lois assured her sitting down. "I mean you'll plan the party as if it was just another party you know. All we have to do is let everyone know that it's really a Wedding, everyone but Chloe and Oliver of course. We'll have to get someone to officiate, but that'll be easy. Oh, and there's got to be a wedding cake."

"Chocolate." Ms. Reynolds said absentmindedly.

"Exactly." Lois said. "Oh and they can't know we're here."

"Of course not." Ms. Reynolds pulled out her planner. "I'll have to start on the party right away. I'll have a staff meeting tomorrow morning, if you wish to attend…"

"Perfect." Lois said. "We'll be there." She stood up and looked at Bruce. "You got anything to add?"

* * *

Lois looked around at the assembled group, maids, maintenance, kitchen staff, security, everyone was there. "Any questions?" She asked a girl raised her hand slowly. "Yes…"

"Bridget." The girl blushed. "I just…I'm sorry, are you asking us to lie to Miss Chloe?"

"No, of course not." Lois scoffed. "I would never…maybe more just avoid telling…" She looked at Bruce for support and he just shook his head in amusement. "Yeah, basically lie through your teeth. Lie with every fiber of your being." Lois leaned on the table. "If she finds out about any of this, and I find out it came from one of you…" She glared at every person in turn and one girl actually whimpered. Lois rolled her eyes. "Geez, it's not like I'm going to kill you. But I could decimate your character for eternity in print." She added. "Yes Bridget." Lois noticed the girl had raised her hand again.

"Sorry, but what if say, a person couldn't lie?" She asked.

"Everyone can lie." Lois smiled.

"I really can't." Bridget shook her head. "I'm terrible at it."

"Just try it." Lois stood up straight. "Tell me a lie."

"Ok." Bridget coughed. "Um, I…really like your blouse." She said, her voice shaky. "It's absolutely lovely." Her smile was too big and her eyes were too shifty.

"Wow." Lois swallowed. "You really can't lie." She tilted her head. "What's wrong with my blouse?" She turned to Bruce. "Is it the color?" She asked confused.

"Just let it go." Bruce told her.

"Well, help me out here." Lois glared at him.

"Bridget." Bruce spoke up for the first time. "You like Miss Chloe? Want her to be happy?"

"Of course." Bridget nodded.

"Well just try your hardest ok." Bruce said. "We don't want to spoil the surprise." Bruce smiled his biggest smile at her.

"No." Bridget blushed a little.

"Maybe you just try to avoid her." He offered. "Don't speak a lot when she's around."

"Yes." She blushed again. "Of course."

"Thank you." Bruce said grabbing Lois' arm. "We'll let you get to work, we really appreciate your help." When they got out of the room Bruce laughed. "Was that so hard?"

"Yeah well I could have done that if I had your dimples." Lois pouted. "I'm going to go change my shirt."

**

* * *

**

Operation Undercover Nuptials

**Phase Three:**

**Don't Get Caught**

**(Pretty much speaks for its self)**

"Ok." Bart said to Ms. Reynolds. "I got the priest to agree to do a surprise wedding but you have to get Chloe to sign the marriage application." He handed Ms. Reynolds some papers. "I'll get Oliver's signature."

"I think I can handle that." She smiled.

"Bart, incoming." Victor said into his earpiece.

"Crap, she's coming." Bart looked around for somewhere to hide as he heard Chloe's voice, talking on the phone to someone coming closer and closer. Normally he would have just super speeded out of there but with Bridget and Ginny he couldn't exactly do that.

"Here." Bridget grabbed his arm and shoved him behind the drapes and pulled them a little closed. Bart resisted the urge to sneeze, he wondered how often they were taken down and dusted as Chloe contemplated the different place settings and signed the application. He cringed as Bridget almost spilled the beans and then decided to take a little peek.

"Flowers." Chloe said suddenly.

"Yes, we've got the flowers on order, unless there's something you wanted to change about the arrangement." Ms. Reynolds asked.

"No." Chloe took two quick steps to the black and white table. "Flowers." She said and Bart saw Rex pulling on the table cloth and then noticed the vase, dangerously close to falling to the ground. Without thinking he speed out from behind the curtain grabbed the vase, put it in Ms. Reynolds hands, picked up the application off the clipboard and was out of the house before anyone noticed.

He made his way around to the front where Eric was pacing back and forth. Eric pointed at his watch and Bart sighed. "I know, I got held up." He handed Eric the paper. "Just make sure he signs that, without looking too closely at it."

"Can do." Eric said. "So it's real? He's finally getting married?"

"Not if we don't get that signed." Bart told him.

"Right, on it." Eric smiled and walked to the door. Bart was pacing for the whole two minutes that Eric was inside and felt a sigh of relief when he saw Eric walk out. "Got it." Eric handed Bart the paper.

"Thanks." Bart said. "He didn't look at it?"

"No." Eric shook his head.

"Great." Bart turned to go and then stopped and turned back around. "Just out of curiosity. Does he usually sign things without looking at them?"

"Only if they come from a reliable source." Eric laughed.

"Damn, that rules me out then." Bart smiled.

* * *

Victor sat in the security room where he'd been for the past few days, watching Chloe's movements and keeping everyone out of her sight. He watched Oliver sign the papers from Eric. "Awesome." He sighed. Then he turned his attention to Lois and Raymond in the kitchen, going over the menu. They were lounging around, drinking beer and having a good time, not knowing that Chloe was fast approaching. "Lois." Victor said in his communicator. "I've got incoming, ETA like five seconds."

"Crap." Lois jumped up. "Chloe's coming." She told Raymond. They dumped the beers and started to gather the papers. "Stall her." She told Victor.

"Stall her?" Victor asked confused. He saw Simon by the door and tapped into his earpiece. "Simon. We've got a situation in the kitchen. I need you to stall Chloe."

"How?" Simon asked confused as he made his way to intercept her.

"I don't know, just do it." Victor said trying to figure out a way out of this mess.

"Ok." Simon said and Victor watched him practically step in front of Chloe to stop her progress.

"Hey." Chloe smiled. Victor had sound courtesy of Simon so he eavesdropped on the conversation.

Simon was floundering for something to say. "Stall her." Victor repeated in his ear. "Rex, say something about Rex." Victor advised him and sure enough that got Chloe talking. "Tell her…" Victor sighed. "Tell her you're afraid of Monkeys." He smiled as he saw a small, almost undetectable glare from Simon before he went on to tell Chloe how he had a bad experience at the zoo as a child. Chloe laughed and they talked a little bit more but Lois was still stuck in the kitchen. "Hurry." Victor told him.

"Not helping." Lois screamed.

* * *

"How do I get out of here?" Lois asked. They'd cleaned up all the evidence but she was still stuck in the room.

"Through there." Raymond whispered.

"Oh, you mean the door Chloe's about to come through?" Lois snapped at him. "Back door? Pantry?"

"No back door." Raymond shook his head. "And you're in the pantry."

"This is your pantry?" Lois looked around. "Crazy rich people." She muttered.

"Raymond, you in there?" Chloe asked.

"Quick." Raymond practically shoved her under a large stainless steel table and closed the curtain. "In the pantry." He called out to Chloe.

Lois pulled her knees up against her chest as she heard Chloe walk in the pantry. She and Raymond started talking about the menu for the party and Lois tried to get comfortable. "This is ridiculous, I feel like I'm in an episode of Scooby Doo." She mumbled to herself. She froze when she saw the curtain move but relaxed a bit when Rex's smiling face peaked in. "No, Rex, go away." She whispered, making shooing motions with her hands. "Really hurry, go, now." Lois said desperately as he smiled at her.

Lois heard Chloe's voice get closer. "Sorry, apparently Oliver taught him hide and go seek earlier and he's been trying to hide ever since. Come on." She called after him.

"Ok, you want to play is that it?" Lois asked. "I'll count." She put her hands over her eyes. "One, two, three…" She kept counting, unsure if it was doing any good and her stomach tensed with the knowledge that she could be discovered any minute.

"She's gone." Raymond told her pulling the curtain aside.

Lois got out and stretched, her back popping as she sighed. "This is getting hazardous."

* * *

"She's getting suspicious." Victor said a couple days later, watching Chloe on the monitors, talking to Bridget, pacing back and forth.

"You think?" Charles, a guard asked.

"Oh yeah, she's coming this way." Victor pointed to the monitor. "Stop her."

"What? No one's here- she won't see anything." Charles pointed out.

"Except for me." Victor told him.

"Can't you just, you know, sneak out?"

"Of a room with one door and no windows?" Victor shook his head. "And I'm not hiding under a desk, stop her." Victor pushed Charles to the door and he slipped out, closing it behind him.

Victor sighed as Chloe and Charles chatted and he pulled out his phone. "Hello." Oliver answered on the second ring. "Stop Rex." He told the chimp. Victor looked at the monitor and saw Rex trying to type on Oliver's computer.

"Hey, how's your trip going?" Victor asked.

"Not too bad." Oliver shrugged. "Chloe's getting a little high strung."

"Wow, what a surprise." Victor said sarcastically.

"I know." Oliver said. "The party was supposed to just keep her occupied though, not stress her out."

"Maybe she's just got a little cabin fever." Victor offered. "She might need to get out of the house, go relax. Has she seen Abby or anyone since you guys got there?"

"No actually." Oliver said. "You might be on to something. Maybe I'll tell her to give them a call, go to the spa, relax a little."

"Sounds like a plan." Victor said. "Look I gotta go, hang in there." He said his goodbyes as Charles walked in the door looking frazzled.

* * *

"I don't understand why both of us had to follow her." AC said standing outside the doors to the Spa, leaning against the railing in front of the Thames.

"So we could create a distraction, you know, in case some dumb ass tries to spill the beans." Bart pointed out.

"Can't Abby do that?" AC asked. "Or Lily, or even Rose?"

"Look, Bruce told us to follow her, so we follow her." Bart said from his position on the room top of the Spa. His phone rang and he picked it up.

"Hello…great." Bart said, AC could hear his end of the conversation. "So it can be delivered by tomorrow. No the other woman already gave me the guidelines. Excellent, see you then."

"Who was that?" AC asked. "What are you having delivered tomorrow?"

"Just mind your own business, it's my ultra awesome, super secret wedding present that you said you didn't want to have anything to do with."

"We talked about this Bart." AC groaned.

"Could you guys all just chill for a day and trust me, I'm not going to screw anything up." Bart said exasperated.

"Crap." AC said. "She's coming out, she's going to spot me."

"Just blend in." Bart said.

"Blend into what?" AC asked. "There's no one else on the street, it's practically deserted, I'm sticking out like a sore thumb, oh no, I think she saw me." He panicked.

"Hold on." Bart said and before AC could wonder what exactly Bart could do for him, he felt a familiar breeze, a small shove, and then nothing.

* * *

Victor watched Bart and AC trudge up the driveway and ran out of the security room as fast as he could, this he had to see in person. He got to the landing of the stairs just as they walked in the front door.

"I said I was sorry." Bart smiled. "I had to do something you were going to blow our cover."

"So you pushed me into the Thames?" AC asked, he was soaking wet and dripping all over the place.

"Would you keep your voice down?" Bart looked around worried.

"It's cool." Victor said. "Chloe's still out and Oliver had a few errands to run. No one's here."

"I'm going to shower and change." AC started toward the guest house. "You." He pointed at Bart. "Stay away from me."

Bart rolled his eyes and looked up at Victor. "It's not like the guy can't swim."

"Incoming." Simon said in Victor's ear. "Chloe's at the front door."

"Crap." Bart and Victor both took off in opposite directions, not paying attention to the puddle of water AC left behind.

* * *

Lois was fuming, pacing back and forth. She couldn't find the words right now. "Have you lost your mind?" Lois finally asked. "Forget the fact that she could have broken her neck, you didn't think she would find a puddle of water all over the floor suspicious?"

"Sorry." Victor said. "But it's cool, you fixed it. Quick thinking, telling Bridget that ice sculpture story."

"Yeah, genius." Lois scoffed. "Except now I have to find an ice sculpture by tomorrow."

Bart cringed. "Sorry."

"You talk to them." Lois passed it off to Bruce. "I'm just…" She threw up her hands and walked away.

"Look." Bruce told them. "We've only got one more day, not even a whole day. My plane is picking up all their friends from America, Ms. Kent, and the General, tomorrow Ms. Reynolds is going to take care of setting everything up so the only thing we have to do is keep from getting caught." He looked at Bart. "You think you can handle that?"

Everyone else turned to Bart. "Oh, I see." He glared. "You just wait until my present gets here. You'll never doubt my awesomeness again. Mark my words."

"Present?" Lois said turning to glare at him. "What present?"

"Lois." Bruce said calmly. "Just let it go."

* * *

Lois had to be dreaming, there was no possible way that her phone was actually ringing right now. She opened one eye slightly to see it light up on the bedside table. "Hello." She mumbled.

"Are you sleeping?" The caller asked.

"Of course I'm sleeping are you retarded?" Lois replied.

"It's only nine p.m. there."

"Who is this?" Lois asked confused.

"Chloe."

"Oh." Lois shot up in bed, her eyes springing open. "Sorry, it was a long day, I guess I dozed off. What's up, it's…" She checked the clock. "Holy crap it's 4 a.m.?"

"Yeah." Chloe said. "Look, I'm thinking this wasn't such a great idea."

"Getting up at four in the morning is never a great idea." Lois sighed.

"No, I mean the party." Chloe said. "What if I screw it all up? This was Edward's party, this is what he was known for, I can't do this."

Lois grabbed the pillow, placed it over in her mouth and screamed into it. There was only so much a person could be expected to handle. "Oh yes you can, we didn't come all this way for you to back out at the last minute." Lois said. "You need to take a deep breath and put on your big girl panties, you can't control everything, and whatever happens is going to happen. You are a grown woman Chloe, you can do this, you know you can do this, and I know you can do this, so just go out there and prove to everyone else that you can do this. Now if you don't mind, I'm freaking exhausted." Lois hung up the phone and went back to sleep.

**

* * *

**

Back at the Party

**Operation Undercover Nuptials **

**Phase Three:**

**Commence Nuptials**

**(Start the Wedding and cross fingers that nothing terrible happens to stop it)**

Chloe was looking at Lois in awe. "So you mean, this is my wedding?"

"Right here, right now." Lois nodded. "Think you're ready?"

Chloe looked over at Oliver. "I am if you are."

"Sweetie." Oliver smiled at her. "I was born ready."

"Ok." Chloe turned to Lois. "Let's do this." Lois smiled and passed her a bouquet of tulips and then turned to the crowd.

"You heard her people, places." Lois clapped her hands. "Let's go, let's go, let's go."

The whole ceremony was a wonderful blur. Chloe walking down the isle with the General, him passing her off to Oliver, crossing her fingers when the priest got to the "speak now or forever hold you're peace part". She cried when she said her vows and slipped the ring on his finger, he cried when he said his. Then suddenly that was it, no stress, no crisis, they were married and they were being pelted with rose petals as they walked back down the isle as Mr. and Mrs. Queen.

The first dance was of course great, to the song that Lois said was, "The perfect song to describe the way we all felt at every step of their relationship." Before she nodded to the bad and "At Last" began to play. The cake was divine, chocolate on chocolate and Chloe assured Oliver if he wasted a single bite smearing it on her face she'd be a widow an hour after she was married.

Dinner was delicious, the whole night was amazing. The sun started to set slowly as the last of the guests trickled out and Chloe and her friends where the only ones left. "I think we deserve a toast." Lois said raising her glass. "To pulling off a secret wedding right under the nose of the best investigator I know."

"Here, here." Chloe smiled and Lois froze, the glass halfway to her lips.

"No, no, no, no, no, no." Lois said. "I know that face." She pointed at Chloe. "We did pull it off didn't we?"

"Well." Chloe sighed.

"Damn it, it was Bridget wasn't it, that little…I knew we couldn't trust her, what kind of person can't lie?" Lois cried.

"It wasn't Bridget, and you did pull it off, kind of." Chloe told her. "I had no idea you were throwing me a wedding." She assured her cousin. "But I did know something was up."

"Which one of our many screw ups tipped you off?" Bruce asked.

"Actually, it was Lois that first got me suspicious." Chloe said and Lois' jaw dropped as Bart looked at her smugly. "I noticed that every time I talked to her, I was hearing the same exact background noise at the Daily Planet."

"Ok." Lois said throwing up her hands. "Now you're just making stuff up." She said. "You can't stand it that we pulled one over on you. There's no way…"

"A phone rings three times, "Daily Planet, Chelsea speaking." Then "Hey Mark, I'm going on a coffee run, what can I get you?" Mark answers, "Large black, no sugar" a fax comes in and then a voice screams, "Steve I'm going to need that write up from the Governors press conference in thirty minutes" and then…"

"We get the picture." Lois cut her off annoyed.

"There were other things, little things, and then when I fell in the water." Chloe smiled.

"No way." Lois said. "You totally bought my ice sculpture story."

"For a while I did." Chloe smiled. "You almost had me. Even though I knew I didn't order an ice sculpture, it was possible Ms. Reynolds did. But when I was putting the wet clothes in the laundry I notice that the water was really dirty and ice sculptures are generally pretty clean, plus it smelled kind of fishy."

"But…" Lois tried to protest.

"Ok, just let it go." Bart said standing up. "Chloe and Oliver are finally married, it was a good day and a good surprise, let's all just leave it at that."

"Here, here." Victor said.

"But it's not over yet." Bart smiled. "I've got one more surprise for the happy couple, if you'll just follow me." Chloe looked at Oliver and shrugged before following Bart out into the lawn. Everyone else wasn't too far behind. "I just want to point out that I offered to share this present with everyone else because it was so awesome but they all declined so you know, I did by myself."

"Should we be scared?" Chloe asked.

"Doesn't anyone trust me?" Bart groaned.

"We should be very scared." Oliver smiled as Bart stopped at the opening to the clearing. "Ta Da."

Chloe and Oliver cautiously took a few more steps forward and stopped dead in their tracks. "Oh God." Chloe gasped. "Is that…did you…"

"Holy Mary Mother of God." Lois said.

"So I'm not the only one who sees it then?" Clark asked.

"Do you like it?" Bart asked, his smile falling a little, his voice scared and hopeful.

"You got me a pony!" Chloe squealed and jumped and hugged Bart within an inch of his life. "A pony Oliver, can you believe…I can't…a real live pony."

"Now, I just rented it for the day." Bart said.

"The day, the hour, I don't care it's a pony." She ran over to it and pet it gently. "This is the like best day of my life." Chloe said.

"I hope that has more to do with the wedding than the pony." Oliver called out.

"Semantics." Chloe waved him off and he sighed.

"Married three hours and I'm already old news." He smiled. "Great gift Bart."

"No a real pony." Chloe said in the phone, probably talking to Abby. "I gotta go." Chloe hung up the phone and Oliver walked over to the pony.

"So pony trumps wedding?" He asked petting it softly.

"No." Chloe assured him, slipping her arms around his waist. "There is nothing I'm happier about than becoming your wife."

"So you want to ditch the horse and start the honeymoon Mrs. Queen?" Oliver asked.

"That's a very intriguing proposition, Mr. Queen." Chloe smiled. "But really." She pointed out. "Pony."

"Life with you will always be exciting won't it?" Oliver asked.

"Hey." Chloe smiled up at him. "If you can promise me a steady supply of pony's and chocolate cake, I can pretty much guarantee it won't be boring."


	24. Chapter 24

Impossible was not a word in Oliver Queen's vocabulary. In fact he couldn't remember the last time he'd even used it. Improbable yes, unlikely, absolutely but with all the things he'd seen, all the things he'd done, he'd long since learned that nothing was impossible. How could it be? He was the leader of a multi dimensional, interplanetary group of superheroes. His best friends were either aliens from another planet or super powered warriors, or you know Lois Lane. His wife regularly healed life threatening wounds, brought people back from the dead, died and came back to life herself. So impossible just wasn't a word he threw around all willy nilly.

The problem was it was the only word he could even think of as he stared at the scene in front of him when he emerged from the woods behind his house. There just wasn't another word in the English language, well in any language for that matter the would come close to describing what he was seeing. He slunk back into the trees and pulled out his phone. Maybe he was hallucinating, that would make more sense. He dialed a number without looking and hoped that Chloe would answer quickly.

"Hello?" He heard after three rings. She was a little out of breath and Oliver paused.

"You ok?" He asked.

"Fine." Chloe said. "Just had to run from the other room to get the phone." She took a deep breath. "What's up? Boston get lonely?"

"Yes." Oliver smiled, just hearing her voice made him feel better. "But I'm not in Boston anymore. I cut my trip short to surprise you."

"Oh baby, that's so sweet." Chloe said. "Hold on." He heard her moving around, muffled noses and then she was back. "But I'm not home, I had to stay overnight in the city. Election results are still coming in and we have to have them ready for the morning edition."

Oliver sighed. He knew, even before they got married, as much as she loved her new life, loved her job and her company that something was still missing, something that she would never admit to. Chloe Sullivan was and forever would be a reporter. She loved newspapers, she loved investigating, she loved writing, and she loved rushing things to the printer to meet deadlines. There were times when he was sure she'd never be as happy as she was those few months she spent working at the Gazette. So for their first anniversary Oliver decided to rectify that problem.

* * *

"_Oliver, the blindfold is a little kinky I'll give you that." Chloe said as she held onto his arm for dear life. "But I've had it on for like thirty minutes now and I have no clue where I am." _

"_That's the whole point." He smiled positioning her where he wanted her. "Ok, you can take it off now." Chloe slowly untied the black scarf and looked around the room confused. _

"_Why are we at the Star City Daily News?" Chloe asked slowly. _

"_Happy Anniversary." He smiled, his hands in his pockets._

"_Yeah." Chloe looked around. "Still confused." _

_Oliver put his hands on either side of her shoulders and spun her around. She was now staring at a door and slowly things started to come together. The golden letters etched on the glass of the door helped a little, Editor, Chloe Sullivan. She turned back to Oliver. "You bought me the paper?" He just nodded as she turned back to the office. "I don't…"_

"_Well that's the traditional first anniversary gift right? Paper?" He asked. _

"_Yes, but traditionally, people give books or gift certificates, or even plane tickets, but you took it a little too literally." She pointed out. _

"_I can afford to take things literally." Oliver shrugged. _

"_You do know I own hundreds of newspapers already?" She pointed out to him. _

"_No." He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer. "Your company owns hundreds of newspapers." He said. "This one is yours, all yours." _

_  
"Oliver, this is…great, the sweetest most thoughtful gift anyone has ever given me but…how am I going to run a paper? With everything else I have to do?" She asked a little upset. _

"_I've thought of that too." He smiled. "Let Elizabeth run it." Chloe tilted her head at him in confusion. "Come on, think about it. You said yourself, she loved working at the Gazette and she's far over qualified to still be your assistant, you just haven't found a job you think she'd like better yet." _

"_But…" Chloe tried to protest._

"_No buts." Oliver shook his head. "Let her run the day to day and you just do whatever you have time to do. This is who you are Chloe and I asked you to give up a lot for me, I just want to give something back." _

"_How did I get so lucky?" She asked, giving in, because honestly in the end, where Oliver was concerne,d that was really the only thing she could do._

"_I don't know." Oliver shrugged. "Must have racked up some good karma in a past life." _

* * *

Eighteen years later and the Star City Daily News was ranked up with the New York Times not only in circulation but also credibility. Elizabeth ran a tight ship, years of learning under the best in the business, but Chloe still helped out from time to time, not that Elizabeth needed her to, but that Chloe needed to. Other rich women went to the spa or even Greece to unwind and relax, Chloe went to the paper.

"Oh I was afraid you'd say you weren't home." Oliver groaned.

"Why? What's wrong?" Chloe asked, her voice suddenly serious.

"Oh, nothing much, just the fact that I came home to surprise my wife and when I get through the woods and into the backyard…"

"Why did you sneak through the back?" Chloe asked interrupting him.

"I was trying to surprise you ok." Oliver cringed. He hated lying to Chloe; in fact he rarely lied to Chloe, until the past couple of months that is.

He looked down and realized he was still in his Green Arrow gear. The original plan that evening had been to sneak into the garage and grab a change of clothes he had hidden in the tool shed and then surprise Chloe. A few months earlier after Chloe had to heal a particularly painful knife wound, which would have killed Oliver, but only put Chloe out of commission for a day or two, they'd had the talk. They agreed that they weren't as young as they used to be and for the sake of the kids they would refrain from super hero work unless absolutely necessary and only when the team was there to back them up.

For the first few weeks, it was great, refreshing even. Oliver drove into town and did his job, ate lunch with his wife, checked in with the team and as long as he didn't have any major deals going, or an alien race wasn't threatening to destroy the planet, he drove back home, ate dinner with his family and then fell into a peaceful and comfortable sleep with his beautiful wife.

Then it got…he didn't want to say boring, life with Chloe was far from boring, but he'd been that guy for 26 years, that guy that ran into danger to help, no matter what and it was hard to give it up. He hadn't meant to do it the first time. It was habit. He was staying over night in the city, he'd stayed so late at work it was hardly worth it to drive home. He was in the penthouse, relaxing on the balcony when he heard a scream and before he even realized what had happened he was out on the street in his Green Arrow gear stopping a mugger. And he loved it.

He didn't do it all the time, only if he was in the city. He wasn't sneaking out of the house at all hours and sneaking back in but he was still lying to Chloe and he was getting a little tired of it all. "Look." He shook his head, getting back to the situation at hand. "That's not the point. The point is what I found."

"What?" Chloe asked.

"The deck…it's destroyed. The yard is beyond repair and the house, oh god, I haven't worked up the courage to look inside yet, I'm afraid of what I'll find."

"Oh God, were we attacked?" Chloe gasped. "Are the kids ok?"

"It's nothing like that." Oliver tried to sooth her. "It's worse – much worse." He looked back up at the destruction and shuddered.

* * *

The fist connected with Chloe's mouth, she was too distracted by the ringing of her phone. She held out her hands to keep her from face planting on the sidewalk and pulled herself up. "Just a second." She said to her attacker as she kicked him in the stomach. "I've got a call." She pulled her phone out of one of the many, many pockets Oliver had put into her Watchtower uniform and answered. "Hello?"

"You ok?" Oliver asked.

"Fine." Chloe realized she was breathing heavily. "Just had to run from the other room to get the phone." She took a deep breath. "What's up? Boston get lonely?"

"Yes." Oliver said. "But I'm not in Boston anymore. I cut my trip short to surprise you."

"Oh baby, that's so sweet." Chloe said as she noticed the attacker getting back up. "Hold on." She put the phone in her pocket, grabbed a broken board that was sticking out of the dumpster and smacked him in the head with it. "Just stay there for a minute – regroup." She advised him before dropping the board and pulling her phone back out and turning her attention back to Oliver. "But I'm not home, I had to stay overnight in the city. Election results are still coming in and we have to have them ready for the morning edition."

"Oh I was afraid you'd say you weren't home." Oliver groaned.

"Why? What's wrong?" Chloe straightened up.

"Oh, nothing much, just the fact that I came home to surprise my wife and when I get through the woods and into the backyard…"

"Why did you sneak through the back?" Chloe asked interrupting him.

"I was trying to surprise you ok." Oliver said in a voice that Chloe had come to learn was his, "I'm not lying but I'm not telling you the whole truth voice"

"Look." He said before Chloe could question him further. "That's not the point. The point is what I found."

"What?" Chloe asked.

"The deck…it's destroyed. The yard is beyond repair and the house, oh god, I haven't worked up the courage to look inside yet, I'm afraid of what I'll find."

"Oh God, were we attacked?" Chloe gasped. "Are the kids ok?"

"It's nothing like that." Oliver tried to sooth her. "It's worse – much worse."

"Worse." Chloe said leaning against the side of the building as her voice rose in octaves. "What could be worse?"

"They…there's a….I can't even say it." Oliver sighed.

"You're a grown man honey." Chloe said trying to be calm. "Just spit it out."

"The kids are having a party." He finally spit out.

Chloe stood up straight and froze. The words Oliver had said weren't fully processing in her mind. That was impossible, her kids didn't do stuff like that. They didn't throw unauthorized parties when their parents were out of town. Her kids were respectful, they followed the rules, and they listened to their parents. She was so absorbed in her personal thoughts she didn't see her attacker run at her from behind. She fell to the ground but recovered quick enough to flip him over her and jump up. "Chloe?" Oliver asked.

"Sorry." She said bringing herself back to the present. "That's impossible."

"I know, right?" Oliver practically squealed.

She dodged a punch and sighed. "Honey, just let me finish this up and I'll be there in five minutes." She hung up the phone and grabbed a rope out of the dumpster. "Ok, I've got somewhere I need to be." She punched him. "So we'll have to cut this short." She tied him to the fire escape ladder before giving an anonymous call to the Star City PD.

She wasn't going to come out tonight. She'd promised Oliver but she'd been in town, the election results were trickling in slower than molasses and she was getting restless so she went to the penthouse, geared up and headed out to the streets. She heard the sirens and grabbed the communicator on her wrist, the same one Oliver had give her all those years ago, only with many many improvements, some Oliver didn't even know about. She guessed now was a good a time as any to show him. She typed in something rapidly and took a deep breath.

The man tied to the fire escape nearly wet himself as Chloe slowly disappeared into thin air.

* * *

"Five minutes?" Oliver was pacing back and forth in the shadow of the woods. "It takes thirty minutes to get from the city to the house, how can she be here in…"

"Holy Shit." Chloe's voice said from behind him and he turned around to see her materializing slowly right before his eyes.

"How did you…" He asked as she solidified then they both froze, staring at each other.

"What are you wearing?" They asked in unison.

"Never mind that." Oliver shook his head. "How did you get here?"

"Little upgrade from the lab." Chloe wiggled the communicator on her wrist.

"You made a personal teleportation system." Oliver asked. "And didn't tell me?"

"It's still in the testing stages." Chloe shrugged.

"You used an untested personal teleportation system without telling me?" His voice was rising and Chloe sighed.

"Yell at me later, explain now." She pointed to the house.

The music was so loud, if they'd had any neighbors close enough the cops surely would have been called. The deck was littered with trash and mud and…"Are those beer cans?" Chloe asked astonished as she reached blindly to Oliver's Green Arrow suit and pulled out a pair of binoculars from his belt. "Those are." She said looking closer. "Those are beer cans." She put the binoculars down. "Beer Oliver."

"I know, I saw them." He took a deep breath.

"I've been praying." Chloe sighed. "Praying that she would grow out of this. That these minor rebellions were just a phase she was going through." Chloe started pacing.

"Wait." Oliver shook his head. "You can't think this was Dee's idea?"

"Oh of course not." Chloe said practically hyperventilating. "Delilah can't do anything wrong." Chloe threw up her hands. "Daddy's little girl, she has you wrapped around her little finger. So I suppose you think it's all Jason's doing?"

"This is his MO." Oliver pointed out.

"His MO?" Chloe laughed. "He's not a criminal Mastermind."

"Wait." Oliver sighed. "We aren't mad at each other." Chloe took a deep breath and relaxed. "We're mad at them."

Chloe looked back up at the house and nodded. They needed to be united in their anger, not divided. She stared at the scene that she'd been dreading ever since the stick turned blue seventeen years ago.

* * *

"_Oh God." Chloe said her hand shaking so badly the pregnancy test fell in the toilet. "Oh God." She said reaching her hand in the bowl and pulling it out. "Oh God." She said again. _

"_Hey." Oliver called out from the front door. "We're back." _

"_Oh God." Chloe took a deep breath and stuffed the test in between two of the folded towels on the bathroom counter before washing her hands. "Just a second." She called out in relief. Her voice didn't sound nearly as panicked as she thought it would. She dried her hand and headed to the door before turning around, digging the test out to look again, still blue. "Oh God." She said stuffing it in her pocket and taking a deep breath before walking into the living room. _

"_Hey." She put on a smile that she knew was too big but she couldn't help it. "How'd it go?" She asked Oliver as the guys started to stuff themselves on the buffet she'd spent all day making, basically to take her mind off of the fifteen other pregnancy tests that were in the dumpster down stairs, all of which were blue. _

"_Fine." Oliver smiled. "No problem." _

"_Good." Chloe said moving away from him before he asked why she looked like a deranged clown. _

"_You should have been there Chlo." Bart said his mouth full of food. "It was awesome. AC ended up fighting this dude…"_

_  
"We don't have to tell this story." AC said. "Chloe doesn't want to hear it." _

"_You mean you don't want Chloe to repeat it to Kara." Victor pointed out. _

"_Shut up." AC punched him in the arm and then drew back, shaking his fist, he'd hit the metal one. _

"_Anyway. So he's losing bad, I mean getting the complete and total shit beat out of him." _

"_Are you ok?" Chloe gasped walking over to see his split lip and bruised eyes. _

_  
"Geez mom I'm fine." AC pulled away and Chloe froze. How did he know, no, he couldn't know, he was just teasing her? _

"_Sorry." Chloe said turning to the kitchen to do something to keep her hands busy. A pie, she'd make a pie, she hadn't yet perfected Martha's apple pie recipe, a sacred wedding gift from the senator that Lois hasn't even gotten yet because she was still being too stubborn to marry Clark. Hell Chloe would have married Clark for the recipe. She'd been working on it for a year and a half but it still didn't come out right. "Oh God." She mumbled under her breath and she pulled out the flour and the shortening. How was she going to be a good mom, she couldn't even bake an apple pie._

"_So anyway." Bart said again. "Trying to regain some sort of pride, AC lures the guy to the lake outside the property…." _

_Chloe tuned Bart out, she couldn't think about that right now, she had to get this pie right. She continued mixing ingredients together and suddenly Bart, Victor, and Oliver were laughing. "I'm talking totally naked." _

_Chloe forced a laugh out, but no one noticed. The guys told more stories, stuffed themselves full and slowly drifted to their own homes. "I'm exhausted." Oliver said as Chloe stared at the oven. "I'm gonna shower and then go to bed, you coming." _

"_I've got the pie in the oven." She smiled. "I'll be there in a little while." _

"_Ok." He kissed her softly and then went into the bedroom. She waited impatiently for the pie to bake, waited even more impatiently for it to cool and then cut a slice and took a deep breath before trying it. It was good, but it wasn't great. She could feel the tears threatening to fall but stopped herself. She grabbed her purse and headed for the elevator. The store down the street was still open and she had a pie to bake. _

_Oliver woke up the next morning and Chloe's side of the bed was still empty not slept in. He got up slowly and walked out to the kitchen and froze. She was standing at the counter top, covered in flour and God knows what else surrounded by pies. "Chloe?" He asked cautiously. _

"_I think I've got it." She looked up smiling at him. "The nutmeg, how could I be so stupid, it has to be grated fresh, I know it's only a quarter teaspoon but fresh makes all the difference. The farmers market didn't have any but Whole Foods should be open by now…" _

"_Chloe what's going on?" Oliver stepped cautiously in the room._

"_It's ok, I've almost got it." She ignored him and went back to her pie crust. He snuck out of the room and called the guys, something was seriously wrong._

_By the time Bart and the other's got there she'd taken another pie out of the oven and declared it inedible and dumped it in the trash. "I've died and gone to heaven." Bart said staring at the countertop and table full of pies. _

"_Bart." Chloe's face brightened into a smile. "Thank God. I need more apples and fresh nutmeg, not the stuff in the spice isle, that's not fresh, in the produce section, go hurry." _

_Bart looked at Oliver confused. "Chloe, ok, this is a little crazy here, what's going on?" _

"_I have to get the pie right, I think it's the nutmeg, it has to be the nutmeg." She said desperately to Oliver. _

"_Ok, why is it so important that you get this pie right, now?" He walked over to her._

"_How can I expect to be a good mother if I can't even bake a pie?" Her voice was wavering now._

"_A good mother?" Oliver froze in his tracks. _

_She dug in her pocket and pulled out what looked like a white stick. "It's blue. They're all blue. I don't think it's a false positive, I mean I've checked the odds and 17 test all being wrong just doesn't compute, I took another one this morning. I just need more time…a few more months to get this pie right and it'll all be ok." Chloe smiled. She'd come to the conclusion at about four in the morning that her success as a mother depended on her apple pie skills. _

"_You're…pregnant?" Oliver said in a whisper._

"_Yeah." Chloe brushed him off. "But it takes nine months right, some books even say it's really ten so I think that's enough time to get the recipe." _

"_Pregnant?" Bart asked dropping the spoon he'd dug into one of the pies. "You?"_

"_I…" Chloe looked around at the faces. Confused, excited, happy. She turned to Oliver who was portraying such a range of emotion on his face she couldn't get a read on him. "Oh God." She sighed. "That's not how you tell someone you're pregnant. I ruined everything, I can't make the stupid pie, I can't even tell someone I'm pregnant." _

_  
"You're sure?" Oliver's face broke out into a grin. _

"_Seventeen tests can't be wrong." She laughed uneasily. "Can they?" _

"_No." Oliver smiled and reached her in two steps, scooping her up in his arms. "I'm gonna be a father, I'm going to…" He stopped. "Oh God." He let Chloe down and started to hyperventilate. "I'm going to be a father…" He said. "Oh God." _

"_Is that normal?" Victor asked. _

"_I did that yesterday." Chloe smiled. _

"_Nine months?" He looked around. "Nine months isn't nearly enough time." _

_  
"They say it's really ten months." Chloe added. _

"_Still, we have to baby proof, I have a room full of arrows for God's sake." He jumped up. "We need a crib and changing table and diapers…how the hell do you change a diaper." _

"_Ok." Chloe said, wondering when she became the voice of reason, seeing as two seconds ago she was a little off her rocker mumbling about pies. "Calm down." She sat him in a chair. "Breathe." He nodded and took deep breaths. "We can do this." She told him. "We fight evil meteor enhanced villains, we've taken down Lex Luther, we managed to get married, we can do this." _

"_We can?" Oliver asked. _

"_Of course we can." Chloe scoffed. "Besides, they say it takes a village right?" She looked at the guys who still seemed to be in shock. "I think we've got that part covered." _

"_We can do this." Oliver nodded. _

"_Together." Chloe told him. _

"_Right." He looked at her and then pulled her closer, his face level with her stomach that had yet to show signs of her pregnancy. "Hey there." He said putting his hand on it. "We're going to try really hard not to screw you up ok." Chloe laughed and slapped him in the head. He kissed her stomach then pulled her into his lap. "Oh God, we're gonna be parents." _

_Bart resumed eating his pie and Chloe slapped his hand. "Get a plate." She told him. _

"_Yeah." Victor finally spoke up. "Like that's going to be any different than what you do now. Between Rex and Bart, I think you're going to make a great mom. You've had more than enough practice." _

_Chloe smiled and Oliver laughed as Bart grabbed a plate from the counter sulking. _

* * *

"Ok." Chloe said. "This is impossible. My apple pie is freaking awesome."

Oliver shook his head in confusion. "What?" She started to explain. "Never mind, what are we going to do?"

"It's just a party right?" Chloe said calming down a little. "I mean they're teenagers, teenagers sneak around they throw parties, they…drink." She swallowed. "We can't over react, they've never done anything like this before, we just have to…" Chloe flinched when she heard something shattering and looked up to see colored glass fall to the deck, followed by a football. "Was that the antique stained glass window?" She gasped.

"Yes." Oliver said in astonishment.

"The one with your family crest on it? The one that I found when we remodeled. The one that took forever to clean up and fix and install?"

"Yes." Oliver nodded.

"They are so worse than grounded." Chloe was fuming now. "They are like grounded to the tenth power. This is military school territory."

"You just said to be calm." Oliver looked at her confused.

"I need you to back me up here." Chloe told him. "I'm talking we go in with full names blazing." Chloe was pacing again.

"Just wait." Oliver held up his hands.

"No, don't do this, don't wuss out again and make me the bad guy." Chloe pleaded with him.

"That was one time." Oliver groaned. "Are you ever going to let me live that down? I don't want to let them off the hook. I was just thinking we'd go about this a little differently." He looked down at his Green Arrow clothes and then at Chloe in her Watchtower clothes.

"I'm listening." Chloe said smiling as she turned back to look at the pile of glass on the porch. She loved that window.

* * *

"_Chloe!" Oliver called out to her taking the steps two at a time. "You up here?"_

"_In the attic." Chloe shouted and heard the door open behind her. _

"_Daddy." Delilah screamed with glee from her playpen._

"_Hey pumpkin." Oliver said bending down to pick up her up. "What are my two favorite girls doing up here?" He kissed Chloe on the cheek. Rex screeched from the corner where he was climbing up the beams. "And Rex." Oliver rolled his eyes._

"_Just going through this stuff." She smiled at him. "When was the last time you looked at any of these?"_

_Oliver dropped himself to the ground and looked into the chest Chloe had open. "I don't know." He said. "I packed all this stuff up after my parents died. I hadn't even set foot in here until a few weeks ago." He grabbed a folder from the top and opened it up. "Huh." He smiled. "My papers from elementary school." He said flipping through them. "I can't believe they kept this stuff."_

"_They kept a lot of stuff." Chloe groaned standing up and moving over to another chest._

"_Hey." Oliver said as she struggled to sit down. He set Delilah on the ground and rushed to help Chloe. _

"_I can do it." She tried to wave him off. _

"_You're eight months pregnant; you shouldn't even be up here, all this dust." He scolded her. _

"_Look if we want the house to be ready for when the baby comes, we've got a lot to do. I found some of the original molding earlier, the contractor said it would be enough to finish the kitchen and the baby's room." She smiled. "I'm just digging for more buried treasure." _

_Oliver turned his head to see Delilah trying to climb into the chest Chloe had opened and was about to grab her when Rex dropped down and pulled her away. "Not everything has to be ready for the baby." _

_  
"Look, I love this house." Chloe told him. "I really do, I think it's a great idea, but there are things that I want to get done and if we don't do them now, after the baby gets here, and then having two kids…it'll never get done." She told him. _

_Oliver sighed. It had seemed like the perfect plan, Chloe was going crazy cooped up in the penthouse the past couple of months of the pregnancy and they were running out of room anyway, with Delilah, Rex and the new baby on the way there was no way they could live there much longer, and Chloe started talking about schools, and even though she was a city girl at heart, she wasn't sure if she wanted to raise her kids in a penthouse. _

_Then he remembered his childhood home. It was on the outskirts of Star City, not the suburbs, but not the city either. They lot was pretty private, the closest neighbors a mile and half away and he loved growing up in that house. It had been sitting there vacant since his parents died. So he set everything up. The house was in pretty bad shape and he kicked himself for not keeping better care of it. But he managed to at least get the dust cleared away and the furniture uncovered before showing it to Chloe. He remembered being nervous as she took a walk around the place without saying a word, twice before lowering herself to the sofa and smiling at Oliver. _

"_I love it." She said beaming. "The kitchen has got to go and there are a few minor repairs here and there, and the outside could use a fresh coat of paint, probably a new roof but…" She looked around. "When can we move?" _

_Oliver breathed a sigh of relief then but he was kicking himself now. Minor repairs turned into major renovations, floor joist had rotted, the electrical was shot and it was taking Chloe forever to choose anything in the kitchen, the least of which being the layout she wanted. She may have gone crazy with Delilah, baking so many apple pies that Oliver had outlawed them a year ago until such time he could look at an apple without the urge to puke, but with this baby, she was going crazy over the house. She wanted everything to be perfect not only for the baby but for Oliver too. She was trying to make sure that everything was as authentic and original as she could make it, except the kitchen which would be the most high-tech room in the house and the secret room behind the library that would house all of their JLA stuff._

"_Oh God." Chloe said and Oliver tore his gaze from Delilah and Rex, Delilah was trying to teach Rex to play patty cake._

"_What?" Oliver rushed to Chloe's side She'd gotten up and was looking through a bunch of old frames that were stacked up against the wall. "Was it a contraction? Did you're water break?"_

"_Relax." She laughed and pulled away a few pieces of art before revealing her discovery. It was octagonal in shape, about three feet tall and three feet wide and it was beautiful. _

"_I remember this." Oliver said running his hands along the top edge of the frame. "Mom had this made for dad." He stared down at the delicately hand crafted stained glass window with his family crest on it. There were a few panes that were cracked and some that were missing but it was still amazing. _

_Chloe tried to pull it out and Oliver grabbed it from her. "I want to put this up." Chloe said looking over it. "We can get it repaired, cleaned up." She looked at him. _

"_Sure." Oliver said. "We can hang it in the study…" _

"_No." Chloe shook her head. "It's a window." She told him. "I want it to be a window." _

_He smiled at her and nodded. It took a while to clean it up and then it took even longer for Chloe to figure out where she wanted it, but she finally decided to put it high in the back wall of the living room. "No one can see it there." Oliver told her after it had been put up. "It's at the back of the house."_

"_Watch." Chloe told him. They were standing in the finished house, no more repairs, no more renovations, they were moved in and everything was ready for the baby. Oliver was standing in the living room behind Chloe, his hand on her stomach as they watched the sunset through the bay windows. "Wait for it." She whispered. _

_Suddenly Oliver couldn't see, there was a blinding light and then he was fine. "Look." Chloe turned him around and he saw. The way the sun was hitting the widow cast a rainbow of colors over the entire room and shown a perfect replica of the window design right at the threshold of the front door. _

"_Prefect." Oliver smiled at her. _

* * *

Chloe couldn't believe she'd let Oliver talk her into this. She was climbing up the side of her own house, Oliver a few feet under her, as she made her way to the attic window. "This is ridiculous." She said to him.

"You liked the plan ten minutes ago." Oliver pointed out.

"That was before I realized how long it had been since I scaled a wall." She shouted in a whisper at him.

"Please, you're in better shape than when I met you." Oliver called out to her.

She rolled her eyes and continued on her climb. She got to the window and pulled it open just enough to slip through and then once she got her footing, she opened it more and let Oliver in. They heard another crash from the living room and Chloe cringed as Oliver pulled his hood up and slipped his sunglasses on. He turned on the voice distorter and smiled at her. "Let's do it."

Chloe pulled her hood up and smiled back, she had to admit, this was fun. "Right behind you."

They made their way to the landing of the stairs with no one noticing them and Oliver reached behind him quietly pulling an arrow out. "Don't hit the armoire." She cringed. "Or any other furniture, or the molding." He turned to her and glared. "Which Arrow is that?"

"Siren." Oliver said. Chloe nodded and went to plug her ears. "Can I hit the wall?" He asked. Chloe considered for a minute and nodded, drywall she could patch. Oliver pulled back and released the arrow, it soared down the steps and through the living room, not hitting any party goers before landing in the wall. He still had the touch. He quickly brought his hands up to plug his ears as the Arrow released a high intense burst of sound effectively stopping the party in its tracks.

They saw Delilah and Jason run into the room, look at the arrow in the wall and then follow its path up to the top of the stairs. "I'm pretty sure this isn't what you're parent's expected up to find when they asked us to check in on you." Oliver said.

"Holy shit, it's Green Arrow and Watchtower." Someone said stating the obvious. It was common knowledge that the Queens had some sort of relationship with Green Arrow and Watchtower, Chloe was the only newspaper reporter in the world ever to get an exclusive interview with either of them, not that the other papers never tried. So it was no surprise that they would have been asked to check in on the Queen children.

"Do you guys have any idea how much trouble you're in?" Chloe asked her hand on her hips. She stopped and stared at Delilah. "What are you wearing young lady?"

Delilah tried to pull at her skirt to lower it a little as Jason seemed to be digesting just how much trouble they were really in. "Oh crap." He said.

"Yeah." Oliver nodded. "I'm going to give everyone thirty seconds to get out of here." He pulled another Arrow from behind his back and loaded it in the bow. "One, two,…" People started heading for the doors en mass as Chloe made her way down the stairs.

"Delilah Laura Queen." She was saying. "Do you have any idea…where is Rex? Where is Isabel?"

"Chill, they're fine." Delilah said. "They're in the kitchen."

Chloe turned around and froze and then stormed into the kitchen. There were five high school aged guys sitting around Chloe's kitchen table, a few girls standing behind them but everyone's attention was on the ten year old girl sitting next to the Chimp. "What do you say?" Isabel was asking. There were two playing cards on the table in front of her and a stack of poker chips. The guy across the table looked back down at his cards and then back up at her, determination and…was that fear in his eyes.

"All in." He said.

Chloe could have sworn she saw her daughter smile but if she did it was gone in an instant and she shrugged as the guy pushed all his chips into the middle of the table. "I'll call." Isabel said calmly counting out her chips and setting them in the pot. "What you got?"

He flipped his cards over and smiled, high fiving his buddies, he had two Jacks. "Full house." He said. "Aces and Jacks." Chloe looked at the five cards lying face up on the table and sighed. Two aces, a Jack, a Ten of Spades, and a seven of Harts.

"Well." Isabel sighed. "I only had two pair." She flipped her cards over and then cracked a smile. "Of Aces." She said as she high fived Rex and then reached for the pot as the guy groaned.

"Dude, you got schooled by a ten year old and her pet monkey."

"He's a chimpanzee." Chloe and Isabel said at the same time.

"Oh crap." Isabel turned around slowly and tried to portray cute and innocent with her smile.

"I'm gonna need to see some ID's boys." Chloe put her hands on her hips and looked at the beers in their hands. "Or we can forget this whole unfortunate incident and you can run along with your other friends." They looked into the living room and saw people scrambling to get out of the house.

"Dude." One of the guys said and slapped his friend. "Let's go."

"But my money." He reached for the pile of money sitting on the edge of the table.

Chloe was by his side in an instant. She grabbed his hand and pulled it behind his back. "The girl beat you fair and square, don't be a douche bag." She released him and shoved him toward the door as Isabel smiled. "You, living room." Isabel's smile faded and she hopped down from her chair and hung her head. "You too." Chloe signed to Rex. "Living room." Rex hopped down from his chair and grabbed Isabel's hand as they shuffled into the living room with their heads down in shame.

When the three of them made it in there Oliver already had Delilah and Jason on the couch looking ashamed. Isabel pulled herself up and Delilah grabbed Rex, who couldn't climb as well as he used to, and put him in between her and Isabel. "What were they doing in the kitchen?" Oliver asked confused.

"Gambling." Chloe said. "And possibly hustling." She looked at her youngest child.

"She wasn't hustling anyone. She was just counting cards." Delilah said speaking up. "Way to over react mom."

Chloe froze and turned to Delilah. "Honestly dad, do you have any idea what my friends are going to say tomorrow at school?"

Oliver turned to Chloe who seemed just as shocked. They'd never told their kids about their double life as Watchtower and Green Arrow. "You guys know…"

"Who you really are?" Delilah asked and rolled her eyes. "Duh."

"I thought you guys promised each other you weren't going to do that anymore." Jason pointed to their outfits.

"Yeah after dad got stabbed that last time." Isabel said jumping in the conversation.

"How do you guys know all this stuff?" Chloe asked astonished.

"There is an acoustical anomaly inherent in the architecture of the house, the sound waves…" Isabel tried to explain.

"If you stand on the dryer in the basement, you can hear everything from you guys bedroom through the vents." Delilah interrupted sending Isabel a look and shaking her head.

"Oh." Chloe looked at Oliver.

"Besides, we were raised by one of the best investigative reporters in history." Jason pointed out.

Chloe smiled out of habit and Oliver glared at her. "Be strong, don't let him flatter you."

"Right." Chloe said. "Who were are is not important. You guys had a party, you wrecked the yard, you wrecked the house, you're little sister should have been in bed hours ago, and you were drinking."

"I'm not a baby." Isabel said pouting.

"No you're not but you're not a grown up." Chloe said. "You need to get to bed, we'll talk about the gambling in the morning. Take Rex with you." Isabel climbed off the couch and grabbed Rex's hand.

"How come she's not getting in trouble." Delilah screamed.

"Because she's ten, and she'll get her punishment, trust me." Chloe said as Isabel walked up the stairs.

"For the record, we weren't drinking." Jason said and Delilah nodded.

Chloe stared at them and decided they were telling the truth, they didn't look or sound drunk at any rate. "That's not the point." Oliver said. "There was drinking here, and if the cops had shown up who would have gotten in trouble for the underage drinking?"

"You guys." Delilah sighed in defeat.

"You're going to clean all this up." Chloe said. "You're going to fix the deck, and the yard and you're going to get an after school job cleaning out gutters if you have to but somehow you're going to pay to have that window replaced." She pointed to the big hole in the wall where her stained glass window used to be.

"Oh mom." Delilah rolled her eyes and stood up. "Do you have any idea how many times I've broken that window?" She walked over to the wall and Jason followed her. She held out her hand and Jason grabbed it, helping her to step up on top of the piano.

"What are you…" Chloe asked confused.

"Just watch mom." Jason smiled as Delilah put her hands in front of the hole and closed her eyes. Suddenly the hole was filled with colors, different colored glass, it was spinning and swirling around until it started to fill in the hole and a minute later the window was back, it looked exactly like it did before the football was thrown through it, possibly a little cleaner actually.

Jason helped her down and she wiped her hands on her skirt. "What did you…" Chloe asked.

"It's sort of like the undo button on a computer." Delilah tried to explain. "I can reverse the last action of any object, but only the last one, I can't go any further back than that."

"But how?" Oliver asked confused.

"Genetics dad." Jason smiled.

"Do you?" Chloe asked turning to her son.

"Mine's not cool like Dee's." He blushed.

"Show them." Delilah smiled. "Do mom."

"Do mom?" Oliver asked confused.

Jason coughed and then put his hands on his hips for good measure. "Do you guys have any idea how much trouble you're in? What are you wearing young lady?" Chloe and Oliver were dumb struck, it wasn't just an impersonation, the words coming out of his mouth were not his voice, it was Chloe's voice, exactly, almost like he was lip-syncing with a recording.

"You're a mimic?" Oliver asked astonished.

Jason shrugged and blushed again and Chloe just shook her head. "Why didn't you guys say anything?" Chloe asked. "Tell us?"

"Well you're always so busy, I mean you run two companies, and a newspaper, and then there's the JLA." Delilah said.

"Oh god, I'm a horrible mother." Chloe sat down. "I didn't even notice that my children had super powers."

"You're not a horrible mother." Jason sighed.

"Does Isabel have a power; let me guess she can fly? My own daughter can fly and I didn't even see it." Chloe told Oliver on the verge of tears. "I bet my apple pie isn't even that good and you've just been lying to me."

"Isabel can't fly." Delilah laughed. "I think her super power is her freaky brain."

"And you're apple pie is awesome mom." Jason assured her. "We just didn't want to worry you guys, you know."

"The fact that you didn't think you could come to us with something like this." Oliver shook his head. "Ok, there have been far too many secrets in this house." He looked at the kids and then at Chloe who nodded. "And that's going to stop now. Come on." Oliver motioned everyone to follow him into the kitchen where he put on a pot of coffee and then cleaned off the table.

"Wow, Izzy cashed in tonight." Delilah said grabbing the money off the side of the table and Chloe grabbed it away from her.

"Yeah, you're going to use this for any repairs that need to be done to the house." She said folding up the cash and slipping it in a pocket.

"So what? You want to have a heart to heart?" Jason plopped down in his chair. "Open up, tell the truth?"

"Yeah if you're going to tell us about Uncle Clark, or Uncle Bart, or well, any of our Uncles really, we already know." Delilah said.

Oliver and Chloe paused and shook their heads. "Well we weren't but, I guess that's one less secret." He passed Chloe a cup of coffee and sat down.

"Can't I have some?" Delilah asked.

"One cup." Chloe said.

"She's her mother's daughter." Oliver smiled as Delilah filled her cup to the rim and slowly walked back to the table.

"Look guys." Oliver said once she sat down. "We admit, we've been a little busy lately."

"Like since we were born." Jason pointed out.

"That's not fair." Chloe said. "Did we ever miss a school play or a game?" The kids shook their heads no. "Do we run off for months at a time on vacations without you guys?" They shook their heads again.

"We work, and we probably work more than most parents but we're home almost every night for dinner and we've never neglected you or forgotten about you so I don't understand why you didn't think you could come to us with this." Oliver asked.

"The same reason you didn't think you could tell us." Delilah shrugged. "Because as much as things have changed since you guys were younger, it still isn't totally cool to have these powers."

"Dee." Chloe reached across the table and grabbed her hand. "I've been healing your scrapes and bruises since you were two." Chloe smiled. "Did you think I'd have a problem with it?" She turned to Jason.

"I don't know." She shrugged. "I mean you told us about your powers but you don't let Bart use his around us, or Clark, or AC."

"Ok, that was my fault, I didn't think you guys would be able to handle it, clearly I was wrong." Chloe said. "But I want you guys to be able to come to us with this stuff."

"Well we know that now." Jason shrugged. "What about you guys?" He looked between the two of them. "You guys obviously haven't been honest with each other, or us."

"We didn't want you to worry, the work we do with the JLA is dangerous at times."

"So why did you keep doing it?" Delilah asked. "After you had us?"

"Because, it's a part of who we are." Oliver explained. "We couldn't just stop, not help when we knew we had the power to." His explanation was just as much for Chloe as it was for the kids and she nodded in understanding.

"Then why lie about it?" Jason asked.

"Well because we know what we can handle, I mean you see the Fantastic Four fighting Doctor Doom on TV and it looks scary and dangerous and as sure as we are that we can handle things like that, we aren't sure you guys would know that we could." Chloe said.

"You've been hurt before, bad." Delilah said.

"You're mom's healing abilities are a little stronger than just scrapped knees and paper cuts." Oliver told them. "Don't worry about us."

"You can't die can you?" Jason asked. Chloe looked startled. "I mean you die and you come back."

"Well…how did you…"

"I heard stories, about Watchtower. Claims that she's died like a hundred times but no one can kill her." Jason looked at Delilah. "We're not little kids anymore."

"Not a hundred." Chloe shook her head. "But yeah, I die, sometimes, if the wound is serious enough, but I come back, and it took your dad a really long time to get used to that and the last thing we wanted was for you to see your moms dead body. He knows I'm going to come back but that first time…"

"It doesn't matter that you know." He told them. "I doesn't matter that you know in a day or two she'll be up and running around and cooking and laughing, all you focus on is that in the here and now, she's dead, and by the way, I've never gotten used to that." He told her. "Since we're being honest."

"Ok, so I get why you didn't tell us about the dying thing." Delilah said. "But Jason's right, we aren't little kids anymore, if you want us to trust you guys, you have to trust us."

"That is a valid point." Chloe managed to say, even though it was really hard for her.

Jason yawned. "Well I'm beat. I'm glad we had this talk, I think it did everyone good, I've got school in the morning so…" He tried to get out of his chair but Oliver reached over and pushed him back down.

"Not so fast." Oliver said. "The party."

"Oh." Delilah sighed. "We were hoping you would forget about that."

"Fat chance." Chloe snorted. "You know we may be old, but we're pretty quick on the uptake." Chloe looked at him. "So you've fixed that window a bunch of times huh?" Delilah blushed, realizing her mistake. "Just how many parties have there been that we don't know about."

"Like hundreds." Jason smiled.

"Not hundreds. Mom…" Delilah tried to explain.

"And that voice thing." Oliver turned to Jason. "Last week when I called you're principle and I said he was acting a little strange…"

"That was totally Jace." Delilah laughed. "You'd be surprised how many of his teachers you've actually talked to over the years. And he calls them and pretends to be you guys too you know."

"Are you finished ratting each other out?" Chloe smiled and they nodded.

"So we're grounded?" Jason asked.

"Oh yeah." Oliver said.

"How long?" Delilah asked.

"Until summer vacation starts." Chloe said.

"But that's like three months, we'll miss all the end of the year parties." Delilah told her.

"You really want to talk about parties with me right now?" Chloe asked and Delilah blushed.

"What about Uncle Clark's party?" Jason asked. "That's next weekend."

Chloe and Oliver looked at each other. "We'll discuss it and let you know." Oliver said. "You guys need to get to bed, you're going to school tomorrow and then you're coming straight home and you're cleaning this house and we are going to sit down and have a talk about the ethical way to use you're powers."

Jason hung his head and nudged Delilah in her shoulder. "Thanks a lot." He sighed.

"Please, you weren't going to be able to get away with it for much longer anyway." Delilah smiled and tossed her arm over his shoulder as they trudged up the stairs.

"How did we get to this point?" Chloe looked around the living room.

"It's not all bad." Oliver nodded to the stairs. "When was the last time you saw Jace and Dee get along like that?"

Chloe smiled as Jason teased Dee about her skirt and she laughed and shoved him playfully. "God." Chloe sighed. "Since before Isabel was born."

* * *

Chloe and Oliver sat on the couch with their hands in their laps trying to hide their smiles as Jason set up a poster board on the chair and Delilah coughed to get their attention. "We've called this meeting because there is something very serious we have to discuss."

_Seven year old Delilah and six year old Jason were both dressed in their Sunday best, a dress and a suit respectively, hair washed and brushed and they looked so professional. "We're all ears." Oliver smiled. _

"_We've come to the conclusion that this family does not need another baby." Jason announced. Chloe looked down at her stomach which was barely starting to show and laid a hand on it. "As you can see by my chart." He flipped the poster board over and there was a pie chart drawn with magic marker and Chloe had to stop herself from laughing again. "This represents the amount of time in one day." He pointed to the circle. "The blue is the time you spend sleeping, the green the time you spend at work and the red the time you spend at home, with us." _

"_What's the purple?" Chloe asked. _

"_That's the time you spend like cooking or doing laundry or stuff." Delilah said._

"_As you can see, the red time, if split between Delilah and myself equally would drastically decrease with the new baby." Jason said. _

"_Yeah you'll be totally busy, changing diapers and feeding it and stuff." Delilah smiled. _

"_And even after its potty trained and eating on its own and stuff and things start to get back to normal. You'll still have to split up the red time into thirds and not in half and that's just not fair to the two of us. We've grown accustomed to a certain amount of attention." _

_  
"Have you?" Oliver smiled. _

"_Yeah, plus, do you have any idea how much a baby costs?" Delilah asked. "Cause it needs all new stuff. Clothes, and diapers and furniture, toys, and where is that money going to come from?" She raised an eyebrow. "Not my allowance." _

"_I think we're set on money." Chloe laughed. _

"_This is serious." Jason said. "Where is it going to sleep?" _

"_In the nursery." Oliver said. _

"_That's Rex's room now." Delilah said. "Where will he stay?" _

_  
"In the attic." Chloe said._

_  
"And when it grows up?" Jason asked. _

_  
"Yeah the nursery is tiny." Delilah said. "And I'm not sharing my room." _

"_There's always the Game room." Chloe offered._

"_And who gets that?" Delilah asked. "It's two times bigger than my room and Jason's room. Do I get it because I'm the oldest? Or does Jason get it because he's a boy? Or does the new kid get it because they're the youngest? How are any of those options fair." _

"_Not to mention you're taking away our Game room." Jason pointed out. "That's not fair, we aren't asking you to give up your office, or the library." _

"_That's true." Oliver said before Chloe could say anything. "Honey, they made a bunch of excellent points." _

"_Thanks dad." Jason smiled. _

"_So what's your solution?" Chloe asked, playing along. _

"_Well." Delilah said smiling. "Tommy Pimona from school, really wants a little brother or sister, he's an only child but his mom said she doesn't ever want to be pregnant again." _

_  
"Oh really?" Oliver smiled, as if he was going along with this._

"_Yeah so we figure, you give the baby to Tommy's mom, then she has another kid, she didn't have to get pregnant, and Tommy has a brother or sister." _

"_Well what do we get out of this deal?" Chloe asked. "They get a new baby, what do we get?" _

_  
"Tommy is willing to give up his dirt bike." Jason said as if it was a steal. "And his Jet Ski." _

_  
"Wow." Chloe said looking at Oliver. "A dirt bike and Jet Ski, for the baby." _

_  
"I know." Jason shrugged. "Guy doesn't know what he's doing." _

"_Ok." Oliver said. "You guys come here." Jason walked over and climbed in Chloe's lap as Delilah climbed in Jason's. "You're mom and I are going to have this baby, and we're going to keep it." _

"_Man." Jason said. _

"_We'll work all that other stuff out somehow, I promise, things aren't going to change that much, it'll be hard at first with a new baby but I think you'll probably learn to love your new little sister." _

_  
"It's a girl?" Delilah and Jason said at the same time, but not with the same inflection. Where Delilah seemed excited, Jason seemed annoyed. _

"_We found out today." Oliver said. _

"_Another girl?" Jason whined. _

_  
"This is so cool." Delilah said. "I'm going to have a little sister. I can dress her up and put make up on her. I'm going to call Stephanie and tell her, she wishes she had a little sister." Delilah jumped down and ran to her room. _

"_What's wrong?" Oliver asked Jason._

"_Dad, can't you do something? We don't need another girl in the house." He looked up at Chloe. "No offense mom." She smiled. "But they smell like flowers and they're always telling you pick up your stuff and we have to watch the girly movies and buy pink stuff." _

"_Ok." Oliver took Jason from Chloe who smiled and walked away. "What would you say if I promised that we started to do more guy stuff, just you and me?" _

"_Like what?" Jason asked. _

_  
"Like, what if I teach you how to shoot the bow and arrow." _

"_Really?" His face lit up._

"_I think you're old enough now." Oliver nodded. "And we'll go fishing more, and maybe even camping every now and then." _

_  
"Awesome." Jason said. "Can we get a dirt bike?" _

"_I think your mom wants you to get a little older before the dirt bike." Oliver said. "But she doesn't have to know what you do over at Tommy Pimona's." _

"_Ok." Jason gave in. _

"_So, who helped you with the chart?" Oliver nodded to the poster board. _

"_Uncle Bart." Jason said. "He said he thought it would help our case if we had visual aids." Oliver just shook his head and laughed. _

* * *

"You know the minute they found out that Isabel was a girl, they stopped playing together." Chloe pointed out.

"I am exhausted." Oliver said. "Can we please go to bed?"

"God yes." Chloe practically fell against him. "Hey, are we ok?" Chloe asked. "With the whole…" She pointed to the suits.

"Yeah." Oliver assured her. "It's obvious we weren't going to be able to stop cold turkey."

"You know that's right." Chloe nodded.

"And maybe we should find more time to talk, get together." Oliver said. "We could reinstate date night."

"Are you kidding?" Chloe laughed. "We just came home to find our kids throwing a wild party while we were out, you think I'm ever leaving them alone again?"

"Hey, don't punish me for their mistakes." Oliver joked as they walked up the stairs.

* * *

Chloe watched as Isabel and Rex ran around the yard with Lois and Clark's twins, Jonathan and Sarah. Delilah and Jason were sitting with their legs dangling in the pool talking about how unfair it was they were grounded to Victor and Tiffany's son Matt while Kara and AC were in the pool trying to teach Emily, their two year old how to swim. "So how long have they known?" Clark asked Oliver as he manned the grill.

"A while now apparently." Chloe shrugged.

"And they have powers?" Lois looked over at them trying to see if it was visible, wondering how she missed it.

"Well not like Jonathan and Sarah." Oliver looked over and saw Jonathan super speed in front of the girls who stopped running abruptly and pouted.

"No fair, you can't use powers." Isabel whined.

"Just because you don't have any." Jonathan taunted her.

"Hey." Clark called out. "You guys play nice, and no powers during tag, it's not fair." It was Jonathan's turn to pout now as he apologized to Isabel and Sarah.

"I will say, it's much easier to have these things now that everyone isn't worried anymore about who sees them do what." Victor pointed out.

"There is that." Chloe said. It had actually been a relief to all parties involved when Chloe told them that her kids were smarter than she gave them credit for and had figured out everyone's identities, not only that but that they had powers themselves. Confessions were then made all around that everyone else's kids either had powers or knew about powers and finally they could all stop pretending around each other.

"So what do you think?" Bart nodded to the pool where Emily was swimming circles around AC and Kara. "JLA, the next generation?"

"God I hope not." Oliver said. "I thought we did all this so they wouldn't have to."

"But if they want to…" Chloe shrugged. "I guess we'd be pretty hypocritical if we told them they couldn't."

"You gotta train them young you know." Bart smiled. "You guys barely got to me in time, another few years and…"

"We're not training them." Oliver shook his head.

"Come on." Bruce said walking up to them with Rachel and his kids as Tommy ran off toward Jason and Matt.

"You gotta see this new game code I wrote." He said opening his lap top on the picnic table as Jason and Matt abandoned Delilah at the edge of the pool.

"That's all he talks about." Jessica shook her head and walked over to sit next to Delilah and they immediately started gossiping about something or other.

"You don't think you're kids could handle Bruce Wayne's training academy." He joked. "I think Dee could surpass even you…she's got a lot of spunk."

"Like you've got your kids down in the cave hanging from barbed wire and doing pushups until their knuckles bleed?" Chloe raised an eyebrow.

"No." Rachel said as Bruce turned to her expectantly.

"That's what I thought." Chloe laughed. "I'm going for another beer, anyone want one?" Chloe asked.

"I'll take one." Bruce said.

"Me too." Rachel smiled.

"Two more here." Oliver said nodded at Clark.

"Lois?" Chloe asked. "You're already one behind the rest of us."

"No." She shook her head. "Actually, I need to tell you guys something." She looked up at Clark. "I'm pregnant."

"Oh my god." Chloe jumped up and hugged her cousin hard.

"Really?" Oliver smiled. "Congrats dad." He clapped Clark on the back.

"Oh god." Lois smiled. "I've been keeping that secret for two months now but you know how they say you shouldn't tell anyone right away."

"You must have been dying." Chloe smiled at her. "As much as we talk on the phone, you didn't even let it slip to me."

"It was killing me." Lois said.

"Don't be so dramatic." Clark rolled his eyes.

"Hey." Lois slapped him. "I'm pregnant; I'll be however damn dramatic I want to be."

"Language." Bart scolded her. "The baby's probably got his dad's super hearing; you don't want to start him off with a bad vocabulary in the womb."

"I'll bad vocabulary you." Lois glared at him.

"Why don't I help you with those beers Chlo." Bart grabbed her arm and slipped away from Lois as soon as possible.

She came back outside and passed out the beers and sat back and watched the kids. Delilah and Jennifer had been roped into playing with Isabel and Sarah, which prompted Jonathan to drag the guys away from the computer to be on his team and the annual girl's vs boys football game had begun. Chloe sat down and watched smiling. "Hey." Oliver sat next to her. "What's your wager this year?"

"I just forbid Isabel from gambling until she was twenty one, wouldn't that be a little wrong of me to bet on the game?"

"Afraid the girls are gonna loose?" Oliver asked.

"What suddenly after a five years the boys are gonna pull it out?" Chloe snorted. "Not a chance, two on the girls."

"Foul." Jason called as Jennifer tripped him and he went down hard.

"Be a man." Sarah called out to him. "Walk it off."

Oliver laughed. "You've been a little quiet since Lois made her announcement." He smiled at Chloe. "She didn't maybe get you thinking about having another baby you're self did she?"

"God no." Chloe laughed. "I've obviously got my hands full with the ones we've got. I'm just happy I guess." She looked around. "When I walked into my old apartment above the Talon thirty years ago and you looked at me with that cocky smile, so sure of yourself that I would take you up on your offer."

"And you did." Oliver reminded her.

"Did you ever think it would turn out like this?" She asked.

"Ok, you can't have Rex on your team, one he's a chimp." Matt complained. "Two he's a guy Chimp."

"Yeah but he doesn't like you." Isabel pointed out.

"But he throws the numbers off." Tommy said.

"You afraid you can't beat four girls and Chimp?" Delilah smiled. "You think he's giving us some sort of advantage? He's a primate, if he gets the ball, I've got a fifty fifty chance he'll run it to the end zone or sit on it and start playing with the grass."

"Fine." Matt said. "Keep the Chimp."

Delilah smiled and turned to Rex signing something. He looked at her and nodded moving over to his position. "So I got fifty on the girls team, Clark's got twenty on the boys." Lois sat down. "What's your bet?"

"Two Grand." Oliver said. "Come on Matt, she's eleven." Oliver screamed as Rose knocked him to the ground.

"She has super powers." Matt called back pulling himself off the ground and dusting himself off.

"Too rich for my blood." Lois whistled. "Hey Dee, it's not cheating if no one see's you do it." Lois could tell that the girl was looking at the ball, contemplating using her powers to move it back some.

"Mom." Jonathan called out exasperated.

Chloe just laughed. "This is just sad." Chloe closed her eyes. "Where did they learn how to play football?"

"I can't watch this." Rachel cringed. "Tell me when it's over."

"Come on." Oliver grabbed her arm. "Let's go show the young ones how it's done." Oliver said pulling Chloe up. "Green team, assemble." Oliver called out and AC and Kara climbed out of the pool and handed Lois Emily. "Son, the ball." Jason tossed the football to Oliver and collapsed on the ground. And just like every year the annual girls vs boys football game turned into the annual Red vs Green football game.

"Come on Red team." Victor said clapping Bart on the back. "Let's do this."

"What about Lois?" Clark asked handing over the barbeque reigns to Matt. "She can't play in her condition."

"You've got Bruce and Rachel to choose from." Oliver said.

"Not me." Rachel held up her hands. "I'm not a big football fan."

"Me either." Tiffany, Victor's wife said patting her shoulder. "Don't worry."

"I guess that mean's I'm up." Bruce said running over to join the red team.

The two teams met in the middle of the field. "What are the stakes?" Chloe asked, hands on her hips as she cricked her neck.

Victor looked her up and down and scoffed. "Same as every year. Looser has clean up duty."

"And winner?" Oliver asked.

"Free babysitting." Clark said.

Chloe and Oliver turned around and conferred with their team as Clark and Victor did the same. They both turned back to each other. Oliver tossed Clark the ball. "You're on."

"Free babysitting." Bart whined. "And what am I supposed to do with that?" He asked getting into his position.

"Fine." Chloe said. "In the unlikely event that you guys win, I'll personally bake you a pie, in lieu of babysitting."

"Pumpkin?" Bart asked.

"Apple." Chloe said.

"Pumpkin." The Red team demanded.

"Apple." Green team responded.

"Ok." Lois stood up. "I want a clean game." She looked at both teams and handed Emily off to Rachel. "No powers." She glared at Bart. "College rules, not NFL."

"We know the drill." AC said.

"Fine." Lois threw up her hands. "Go for it." She turned around and sat back down. "So what are the new wagers?" She looked around. Isabel stepped up and slapped a five on the table.

"Green team." She said defiantly.

"Short stuff's got five on green." Lois smiled at her.

"I'm gonna have to go with Red." Jason shook his head.

"Please, you're really going to bet against mom and Dad." Delilah said slapping a twenty on the table. "That's suicide."

"Yeah, AC and Kara have a two year old. How much sleep you think they've been getting?" Jason countered.

"Ten on Red." Matt came up and tossed Lois a bill.

"Gotta go with Green." Tommy shook his head. "Their record speaks for its self. "

A/N: I wasn't going to write this chapter actually. I've never been a fan of the famliy fics but I thought that for sticking with me through 23 chapters you guys deserved something so initially it was going to be one scene a few paragraphs of happily ever after and a few turned into more and then suddenly I had 17 pages, so I hope you've enjoyed my story because I enjoyed writing it.


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